“As a coach, the number one challenge is to try to find the right answer before you know whether it’s right or wrong. I think some of the players on the park were actually performing pretty well. We had the momentum, and sometimes ... you don’t want to disrupt the momentum in the game. I’m going to review it whether I did it too late or not.”

Gustavsson was more certain about his tactical call to replace an attacker with a defender, saying his players were prepared for the “going-for-the-goal scenario” with Kennedy up front.

“When it comes to saying that we replace an attacker with the defender, I think that’s a logic question,” he said. “Alanna is a brilliant attacking option for us.

“Alanna as a double nine as we call it, playing the two nines with an aerial presence up there, is something we’ve done in the past. Last time I think you guys saw it was against New Zealand when we scored those late goals and won the game in overtime. Alanna has a forward mindset, with her aerial [presence] and her finishing, so that’s something we’ve trained and prepared for.”

Gustavsson said Polkinghorne’s introduction added an attacking set-play presence and winning mentality.

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“She’s scored tons of game winners from set plays, so she gave us another tool,” he said. “I know it can look different - look strange – when you take an attacker out and put a defender on, but it’s more about what type of attacking tool do you want in that type of game?

“And I think actually we’ve got a good effect on it tonight, but not all the way in. But we were very, very close. Look at Chids, 100 per cent chance. Ellie 100 per cent chance. Caitlin, 100 per cent chance. All that was after the game changers come on. We could’ve scored four goals in the last 10 minutes.

“Chids [Chidiac] came in and was that game changer. She was upset afterwards that she didn’t score but ... she did exactly what she was asked to do.”