The Matildas are back. After falling to a shock defeat in Penrith on Saturday, a degree of order was restored on a wild night in Newcastle where four goals in 17 breathless minutes accounted for Chile at the second time of asking and ensured Alen Stajcic’s side will end the year on a winning note.

A goalless, if entertaining, first half at McDonald Jones Stadium gave way to a brief but game-defining period of carnage, sparked by Caitlin Foord in the 53rd minute, as the Matildas wreaked havoc in the Chilean defence to gain some revenge for the weekend’s 3-2 reverse in western Sydney.

Matildas beat Chile 5-0: women's football international – as it happened Read more

Foord laid on the first for Sam Kerr and then scored two of her own in quick succession. Emily Gielnik rounded off the blitz and effectively sealed the result by making it 4-0 on 69 minutes before Foord found the back of the net for a third time with two minutes remaining to complete the first hat-trick of her international career.

The result signals a return to form for the world No 6 team, although it may have come too late to secure a seeding at next year’s World Cup. The Matildas needed to have won both games of the double-header against Chile to have to guaranteed their ranking – and with it a top-six seeding for the tournament in France. As it is, they will have to wait for the result of the Netherlands’ qualifying playoff against Switzerland and the publication of Fifa’s new rankings on 7 December before they learn their fate.

While there was a degree of inevitability to the identity of the Matildas’ opening goalscorer, Kerr was indebted to Foord, whose hard running and neat pass created the chance. Still, there was work to be done, but Kerr showed her class in front of goal and made no mistake in guiding the ball past Chilean goalkeeper Christiane Endler.

What followed was a reminder of how destructive this side can be after several outings – admittedly a couple against far superior opposition than Chile – in which they had failed to convince going forward.

Just a minute later, the lead was doubled, and again it was all about Foord. The Sydney FC player, who scored twice on her return to the W-League in the season opener, started the move with an incisive run forward before finishing it off moments later with an inch-perfect finish into the roof of the net from the tightest of angles at the back post.

Foord should have grabbed a second soon after but she made no mistake on 67 minutes when she pounced on a poor touch from Endler. The Matildas No 9 made the Chilean goalkeeper pay with a crisp finish from outside the box.

The match was over as a contest, but the Matildas were not finished there and Emily Gielnik added a fourth two minutes later with a pinpoint effort into bottom corner from edge of the penalty area.

Foord then produced the cherry on the cake with her third and the Matildas’ fifth with two minutes remaining to complete a thoroughly satisfactory outing in front of a decent midweek crowd of more than 12,000 fans.