The Westfield Matildas took their first step towards the next stage of the FIFA Women's World Cup today in Bochum with a hard fought 3-2 win over Equatorial Guinea.
The Westfield Matildas' early dominance paid off in the eighth minute when Equatorial Guinea's inability to clear their lines cost them dearly.
Heather Garriock's shot was parried into the path of Leena Khamis who converted the simplest of chances.
In a truly bizarre World Cup moment in the 15th minute Khamis clipped a Heather Garriock cross onto the post and Equatorial Guinea defender Bruna caught the rebound in her hands.
Inexplicably the referee and assistant referee did not see the incident as Miriam rolled the ball to her keeper who picked it up and played on to the cries of the Australian attack.
Against the run of play, Equatorial Guinea found themselves level in the 21st minute.
Servet Uzunlar was dubiously robbed while in possession from behind by the Equatorial Guinea captain Anonman who went on to round goalkeeper Lydia Williams and slip the ball into the Australian goal.
From then on it was all Australia. Emily van Egmond and Khamis both had half chances, but Australia came closest to regaining the lead two minutes before the end of the first half when Colette McCallum's free-kick from the edge of the box rattled the crossbar.
Two goals in three minutes early in the second half put Tom Sermanni's team en route to victory.
In the 48th minute, Khamis did well to collect a through ball and was able to cross into the box with the stretching De Vanna failing to make contact van Egmond was on hand to drive the ball home on the half volley for a stunning debut goal from the 17-year-old Novacastrian.
Another long ball was key to Australia doubling their advantage.
Captain Collette McCallum expertly clipped the ball into the penalty area with De Vanna timing her run to perfection and controlled the ball with her chest before rolling it past Equatorial Guinea keeper Miriam.
McCallum went close again twice as the game drew to its conclusion. Her free-kick from the edge of the box was deflected just wide for a corner and then she clipped the bar again with a speculative effort from the left-wing.
With Australia looking comfortable a mistake from the Uzunlar allowed Equatorial Guinea back into the game when the defender was caught in possession by Anonman who took full advantage, hitting a right footed shot past Williams.
"I was obviously very happy with the win; I was happy with a lot of things that happened today but there were some other aspects of the game where we need to improve upon in order to go further in this tournament but that sometimes happens in the structure we play in and that we are trying to develop our team and the way we play," said Tom Sermanni.
"The positives are we scored three goals and created a lot of chances and we didn't actually give them many chances in the match – they never really created anything against us.
"We are pleased that we won and that we are still in the competition. We made the game a little bit more difficult for ourselves than we needed to at times. It was a game of contrasts, we played some excellent football and created great chances and at other times we made some very poor mistakes which could take five years off my life expectancy!", said Tom Sermanni on the FIFA website.
"In the end it was a much more hard fought win than it probably should have been but three points in the bag and now we prepare for the Norway game."
On Sally Shipard's knock that forced her out of the game at the interval following a foul on the stroke of half time.
"Sally copped a boot just below her calf and at the break we decided to take her off as a precaution," continued Sermanni.
"There's a bit of swelling as you can imagine but we expect that she will be right for the next match.
"There were quite a few bumps and bruises from that match but nothing serious and I think we came out of it generally intact."