England held by Australia at Craven Cottage after Clare Polkinghorne cancels out Fran Kirby opener

A host of missed opportunities and referee decisions that went against England cost the Lionesses victory against Australia after the two sides played out a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage.

A Fran Kirby effort in the 20th minute was cancelled out by Claire Polkinghorne with six minutes remaining as Phil Neville’s side were held by the team ranked sixth in the world rankings.

Neville admitted he was “a little disappointed” with the performance of Brazil on Saturday, but even with Australia missing some of their star names, including forward Sam Kerr, they were challenged much better physically.

Beth Mead, who was used off the bench against Brazil, will have been disappointed to fire wide when latching onto a through ball by Toni Duggan in the fifth minute – a chance she has so often converted for her club side.

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The Arsenal forward didn’t hide after the miss, when two minutes later she cleverly flicked a Lucy Bronze cross from the right-hand side, but goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold was equal to the effort.

Australia struggled to contain England’s width as Mead and Bronze in particular caused problems down the right, but the visitor’s own pacey forward line was always looking to get in behind the England backline.

Fran Kirby, who out performed World Player of the Year Marta at the weekend, started further forward as the Lioness’ number nine, and after terrorising the Australia defence early on, she broke the deadlock in the 20th minute.

A heavy back-pass was fluffed by Arnold, who sliced the ball to Mead on the right side of the box. She slid the ball across to Kirby, who sold Ellie Carpenter a dummy to turn and fire home for her 12th international goal.

Amy Sayer, one of three teenagers starting for Australia, registered the first real effort on target for the Matildas on 28 minutes, but her 20-yard drive was straight at England’s Mary Earps.

A frantic 30 seconds followed after the half hour mark, when Steph Hougton connected with an Alex Greenwood corner that was well saved, with Mead close on the follow up. Australia countered down the other end, with teenager Princess Ibini-Isei firing from the ride side of the box, forcing Earps to save down to her right.

England thought they had added a second two minutes before half time when Kirby broke the offside trap and squared for Lucy Staniforth to side-foot home, but she was wrongly ruled offside in a poor call from the assistant referee. Her fellow official in the middle didn’t cover herself in glory moments later, when she denied England a clear penalty when Mead was upended. The frustration was clear to see on Neville’s face as he marched down the touchline at half-time.

Australia coach Alen Stajcic will have had stern words for his side and they came out of the blocks quickly in the second half, with Ibini-Isei almost levelling after being played through by De Vanna, but Earps was there to smother her effort.

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Kirby and Duggan linked up well to force another save out of Arnold on 51 minutes, before Claire Polkinghorne cleared a Kirby effort off the line ten minutes later after she rounded Arnold following good work from Jordan Nobbs.

Sub Rachel Daly almost added an audacious second for England when she back-heeled a cross from Greenwood, as the Lionesses continued to pile forward in search of a killer second.

England were denied a second penalty when Caitlin Foord bundled sub Nikita Parris over with ten minutes left, before Carpenter went up the other end and forced a fine save out of Earps.

The resulting corner from Elise Kellond-Knight, winning her 100th cap, saw Polkinghorne leap highest to head past Earps and level it late on for Australia.

England almost won it at the death when Daly latched onto a short back-pass, but Australia were able to clear and see out the remainder of the match.