The Football Ferns have scored their first victory over a country not in the Oceania Federation in nine months as they held out opponents Thailand with a fine defensive effort.
The New Zealand sides 4-0 victory over Thailand in their international friendly at Christchurch's Orangetheory Stadium was strong on goals but also defence where the visitors were unable to put a shot on goal.
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There was a double from substitute Katie Kitching which capped off the match as the 28th ranked New Zealanders were put the 47th-placed Thais to the sword.
In fact, it was the Ferns sixth straight win off the back of their Olympics qualifying tournament in Samoa.
The home team opened the scoring in the 17th minute, when Indiah-Paige Riley laid a deft through ball on a platter for Hannah Wilkinson to slot a low shot past the goalkeeper.
The score remained at 1-0 to the halftime break.
The second goal came in the 64th minute as Wilkinson put in a low cross into the box for Jacqui Hand to easily put her shot away.
The first goal for Kitching came as a result of an error by the Thai defence in the 71st minute.
A few minutes before the fulltime, CJ Bott was taken down hard in the box and the referee immediately awarded the Ferns a penalty, and Kitching made no mistake.
The 4-0 victory was their biggest win outside of Oceania since they beat Thailand 5-0 in November 2017.
The Football Ferns and Thailand meet again at the same venue on Tuesday night.
Football Ferns 4 (Hannah Wilkinson, Jacqui Hand, Katie Kitching 2) Thailand 0. HT: 1-0
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