Jamie Maclaren,Riley McGree,Nathaniel Atkinson,Mathew Leckie,Joel King and Connor Metcalfe all got a taste of action off the bench in the second half,with Arnold clearly intending on being far more experimental with his selections in Sunday’s rematch at Auckland’s Eden Park,revealing post-match that almost his entire starting team would be spared from the trip across the ditch.

“I wanted to pretty much reward the ones who gave a lot of sacrifices and got us through the campaign. And obviously,that’s the older group,” he said. “Now it’s for the kids.”

The first half was laborious stuff from the hosts. Sainsbury turned in an unflattering performance early on,turning over the ball with a dangerous central pass that nearly handed the Kiwis the opening goal on a silver platter after barely a minute of action. On nine minutes,he was made to look almost geriatric as Andre de Jong surged past him far too easily and should have scored to finish off a rapid counter.

Eventually,the Socceroos gained a degree of ascendancy,and after a few half-chances,a horrible point-blank miss from Jackson Irvine,and a goal questionably ruled out just before the half-hour mark,it was a piece of individual brilliance in the 32nd minute which broke the deadlock.

It was Mabil’s first international goal on Aussie soil,his eighth for his country,and one to remember as he cut inside from the left wing,took aim a few metres from the edge of the penalty area,and let rip with a rocket of a shot.

There was little of note that occurred in the second half,aside from a wonderful fingertip save from New Zealand’s Oli Sail that tipped a shot from Leckie onto the outside of the post,foiling a terrific fast break from the Socceroos. All up,it leaves Arnold and his men with plenty to work on,and not much time to do so.

“I thought it was a highly competitive match,probably could have gone both ways,” New Zealand coach Danny Hay said. “When you’ve got Guus Hiddink saying you deserved at least a draw,it probably says a lot.”

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