Matildas winger Hayley Raso delighted to be back on pitch after strong showing off the bench against Slovenia

After three months out with a quad injury, Hayley Raso has shared her delight at making a winning — and scoring — return to competitive football in Perth. The Matildas winger added some late gloss on an otherwise frustrating night for the Matildas as they overcame Slovenia 3-0 at HBF Park in their first of four games in WA. After Emily Gielnik’s early opener, Raso arrived off the bench as a subtitute and marked her return from injury with a precise dink to set up Holly McNamara’s first international goal in the 86th minute. One minute later and Raso found the net herself from outside the box to round out the match and help Australia claim a win in new coach Joe Montemurro’s first match. Raso revelled in her joy at simply being able to step foot on the pitch again after being confined to rehab after hurting her quad playing for Tottenham three months ago. “It definitely is a lonely place and I think it’s even more difficult when you’re doing your rehab during the off-season,” she said. “Sometimes it allows for you to have a little break and a switch off, but I’ve spent most of the time doing my rehab. “That’s because I needed to get myself back here and wanted to get myself back playing for the national teams. It was tough, but not too bad and I’m just glad and grateful to be back here.” Raso will be monitored post-game before a decision on her minutes for the next game against Slovenia on Sunday will be made, although she is one of a few players who is available for all four games of their trip to WA. Her late cameo helped ice a game which proved more difficult than some expected, as the Matildas struggled to deal with Slovenia’s high press. Australia coughed up possession in their own half on numerous occasions and after going 1-0 up, gave up enough high quality chances for Slovenia to take the lead had their finishing been better. “We were lucky tonight that they didn’t convert them, because that would have punished us a little bit,” Raso said. “For us on a personal level, we need to take our chances, we need to keep the ball better. And it was the first game for us in a new era so we’ll definitely have a lot to work on.” Gielnik, who impressed on the wingafter being handed a start by Montemurro, said the new coach’s possession-based game plan was a work in progress for the team, but they were only going to get better. “It’s a different situation for the front line, because it requires a lot of patience, so it’s just finding the right timing, waiting for the right moment,” she said. “We’ve been so used to being, and me personally, doing everything fast, doing everything quick, just running everywhere, and now we’re about finding the right opportunity. “It’s going to be really good for us. You saw a glimpse of it tonight, we could be even better at it once we play more under Joe, but I think it’s going to really work for us, once we kind of play that style of possession and then find the right moment and then go, it’s going to be critical. “For the front line, and for me personally, it’s finding the pockets, finding the spaces working well and being versatile up front.”