JAMAICA’S senior Reggae Girlz may not have attained the upset win desired but they did produce their best performance of the Cup of Nations tournament, albeit in a 0-3 loss to hosts Australia, much to the delight of Head Coach Lorne Donaldson.

After losing the first two encounters 0-3 and 2-3 to seventh-ranked Spain and 28th-ranked Czech Republic, respectively, Donaldson’s expectations were that his 44th-ranked Girlz would end the tournament on a high against the 12th-ranked Matildas, much like they did when they first met at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

Back then the Girlz lost 1-4 but took heart from scoring their first-ever goal at the global showpiece; and while they didn’t score on this occasion they certainly had every opportunity to do so but were denied by faulty shooting and poor decision-making in the final third.

In the end, goals from Katrina Gorry (28th minute), Alex Chidiac (56th) and Caitlin Foord (69th) assured Australia a seventh-straight victory in front of an almost 10,000-strong crowd at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, as they move within one win of their all-time record of eight consecutive wins.

For Donaldson the objective for the friendly tournament, which was used to not only assess players but also to up the ante on their dress rehearsal for the World Cup on the same continent this summer, was met with flying colours.

“Oh yeah, we are still a young team with some young players and we don’t have the luxury of playing a lot of games all over, so we have our background of college players and Girlz who are out of a job right now so we decided to bring them together and see how best we can build depth — and I think the tournament helped us tremendously,” Donaldson said in his post-game assessment.

“We were sluggish in the first game because half of our girls came in on the day of that game. But, that’s why we came — to weigh the pros and the cons — and I thought it was a fantastic tournament and this is as good as it gets,” he added.

Donaldson again made a number of changes to his starting line-up with striker Tiffany Cameron dispatched in an unusual, right full back position but who did herself justice as the Girlz dictated the tempo, controlled possession, and pressed their more illustrious opponents in the opening half.

In fact, they were unfortunate not to have broken the deadlock through some enterprising play that involved Kayla McKenna and Jody Brown, both of whom had a number of chances throughout.

At that point the Girlz accounted for 52 per cent of possession and also completed 116 passes compared to Australia’s 104. However, it was the hosts who opened the deadlock against the run of play when Gorry’s shot from a distance proved too venomous for Girlz goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer whose touch wasn’t enough to keep the right-footer out.

The Girlz almost pulled level just before the break when Atlanta Primus played McKenna through on goal, but the striker’s left-footed shot was kept out by the outstretched leg of Mackenzie Arnold who ensured Australia remained 1-0 up at the break.

Again, the Jamaicans started positively on the resumption and found a few breaks, the best of which came in the 54th through McKenna,who should have unleashed on goal, but poor decision-making saw the opportunity come to naught.

Two minutes later poor defending from the Girlz allowed substitute Chidiac to latch on to a loose ball and fire past Spencer.

And the game was done and dusted when Foord, in one-two combination with Captain Sam Kerr, opened up space for the former’s right-footer from the top of the arc that had Spencer beaten all ends up.

Still, the Girlz showed life and almost pulled one back three minutes from time but Brown’s effort on goal was parried by Arnold.

“We have some things that we can do; we have lots of weaknesses and we are going to try to strengthen those. Obviously they were at full strength and we are missing our very top player, who is our main goalscorer,” Donaldson said, alluding to the absence of Khadija “Bunny Shaw who pulled out from the squad due to personal reasons.

“So if we had her then maybe it could have been different but, you play with what you have and the Girlz we had out there put up a tremendous fight. And this score of the game didn’t indicate the level of play — I think it was a closer game than a 3-0 scoreline,” the tactician noted.