Lauren Colthorpe scored in her 50th international match and Sally Shipard and Kyah Simon chipped in with one each as the Westfield Matildas came from behind to beat Mexico 3-2 in Gottingen today.
The Westfield Matildas began their first practice match in Germany with plenty of energy and endeavour before the dominant strike pairing of Maribel Dominguez and Monica Ocampo put the Mexican team in front with two goals in the space of three minutes.
But showing true Australian grit and determination the Westfield Matildas played themselves back into the contest and went into the halftime break two-all following goals from Colthorpe and Shipard.
And Kyah Simon capped off a solid performance with a goal midway through the second half to seal the win.
Colthorpe started brightly down the right side and a deep run from her fullback position saw a lofted shot hit the crossbar in the 10th minute.
In the 19th minute Tameka Butt took the ball under control following some broken play and hit a 22 yard effort that was heading for the top left corner only to be foiled by the cross bar.
Moments later and it was Mexico's turn to test the woodwork with two efforts, one which Australian goalkeeper managed to get a hand to, being driven into the same left post firstly by striker Dominguez and then with the follow up from Ocampo.
In the 30th minute Australia thought they had scored after Heather Garriock put in a typically pinpoint ball from the left which striker Leena Khamis played in with the outside of her boot only to be called for offside.
But it would be Mexico who would open the scoring following some sloppy play in midfield which gifted the ball to Dominguez who played a precise through ball to strike partner Ocampo who calmly slotted past an exposed Lydia Williams.
Dominguez and Ocampo were again causing havoc with Australia's defence and Williams was forced to make an excellent save with 12 minutes to go in the half forcing a corner.
From the resulting series of corner kicks Mexico were awarded a penalty for an infringement in the box and Dominguez calmly slotted from the spot.
On 37 minutes it was again Australia's turn to put pressure on the Mexico goal and when Khamis earned a free kick 30 meters from goal Australia's dead ball specialist Collette McCallum stepped up and put in a perfectly weighted cross for Colthorpe to powerfully head home to make it 2-1.
Williams was in the thick of the action again in the 38th minute when the ever present Dominguez was found open in the box and hit a powerful volley on goal that the Aussie keeper did well to save.
Colthorpe's heading prowess again forced a strong save from the Mexican keeper following another Garriock cross.
Sally Shipard scored on the stroke of halftime to even up the score with an assured finish following some great interplay in the 18-yard-box between Tameka Butt, Khamis and Colthorpe off an Elise Kellond-Knight cross.
Lisa De Vanna came on as a halftime substitute in her first match for the Westfield Matildas since her horror leg break at last year's AFC Women's Asian Cup in China and put in a solid second half shift.
The second half saw Australia dominate large portions of possession and capitalised on some more assured play when Kyah Simon made it 3-2 in the 63rd minute.
Simon finished on her second attempt following a McCallum cross from just outside the area with the Mexican defence unable to deal with the continued Australian pressure.
Williams produced another excellent save on 73 minutes tipping over Dominguez' shot from the edge of the 18 to retain Australia's advantage.
Dinora Graza almost grabbed a last minute equaliser when she hit the cross bar with a shot from 14 yards at the death but Australia held on for the win in their second last match before taking on Brazil in their first match of the FIFA Women's World Cup.
"To come back against any team two-nil down is a huge positive," said Westfield Matildas coach Tom Sermanni.
"I think it was a game of mixed qualities for us; I thought at times we dominated possession and had some really good passages of play and at times we left ourselves exposed when we gave away simple balls.
"I think it was fortuitous that we had a game like this first up and see the things we need to work on rather than go into the first game at the start of the tournament with a false sense of security.
"Overall it was a really good run out for us over 90 minutes."
The Westfield Matildas will play one final preparation match against England on 23 June in Wolfsburg before moving to Dusseldorf for the beginning of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.