Newcastle's Clare Wheeler helped set up a late equaliser as the Matildas drew 1-1 with world superpowers USA in front of a record Newcastle crowd at McDonald Jones Stadium on Tuesday night.
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The 20,495 vocal spectators who packed the stadium eclipsed the city's previous attendance record of 16,829 for a Matildas match. That was set in September 2017 when they hosted Brazil.
It looked as though the masses would leave disappointed after the world's No.1 ranked side took the lead in the fourth minute and outplayed the Australians in many aspects of the game.
But home-grown Wheeler, in just her fifth appearance for the Matildas, came on in the 86th minute for Tameka Yallop and almost instantly had impact.
The former Adamstown Rosebud junior made a crucial play when she won the ball in the middle of the park with a strong tackle on Ashley Sanchez then passed to Steph Catley.
Catley sent a long ball into the box to find Sam Kerr, who passed back to Kyah Simon to shoot from the edge of the box.
Simon's shot was deflected into the net off the back of USA defender Becky Sauerbrunn to the delight of the packed Newcastle crowd.
Until that point though it was mostly the Americans doing the entertaining as they showed why they are the world's No.1 ranked side.
The game was less than four minutes old when a ruthless USA took the lead through Ashley Hatch.
It had been Hatch who got the Americans off the mark in a 3-0 win over Australia at Stadium Australia on Saturday night in the first match of the two-match series. That effort took just 24 seconds.
On Tuesday night, it took three minutes more.
Lynn Williams found Margaret Purce in behind the Matildas' back line and the 26-year-old cut a textbook ball from the byline to the edge of the six-yard box for an unmarked Hatch to easily tap in past a diving Lydia Williams.
It came from a turnover in the Matildas half and after Australia's shot-stopper had been forced to deny Lynn Williams from close range in the second minute of the match.
Lynn Williams also headed the ball over Australia's goal around the 10-minute mark as the Americans made Australia's defence look almost pedestrian at times.
Lydia Williams was also forced to produce a goal-saving effort from point-blank range in the 34th when she denied Tierna Davidson from close range.
The back-to-back world champions looked the more dangerous in attack, pushing forward with plenty of numbers streaming into the box on every occasion.
The host's chances in the final third were few and far between in the first half.
The crowd screamed every time the Matildas ran the ball forward but the hosts struggled to stick their final passes.
The Americans were also much better at winning the 50-50 battles in the first 45 minutes with many questions being asked of the Matildas as they continue building towards the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup in India in January.
The first, and best chance of the half for the hosts came when midfielder Kyra Cooney-Cross hit the left post off a corner with a shot from the top of the 18-yard box.
It remained their best chance of the match until Simon's equaliser.
Australia coach Tony Gustavsson made three changes to his starting side from Saturday's match, which was played in front of a national record crowd for a Matildas match of 36,109. Caitlin Foord, Teaghan Micah and Jessika Nash made way for Hayley Raso, Lydia Williams and Kyra Cooney-Cross.
Sofia Huerta came into the USA starting side in place of Emily Sonnett in their only change.
Newcastle's Emily van Egmond started in the Matildas midfield and played the full 90 minutes.
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