Phil Neville expressed concerns about the standard of refereeing in women’s football before the World Cup as a flurry of poor decisions and the Lionesses’ profligacy in front of goal – after a confident and possession-heavy display – was undone by a late Clare Polkinghorne header that earned Australia a draw.

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It looked as if Neville’s project to have the Lionesses playing Total Football was well on track but a series of woeful refereeing decisions kept the margin narrow late into the game.

“The two penalties … I can’t understand why they’ve not been given to be honest with you,” he said. “If there were ever two clearer penalties in football, they were them. The [disallowed] goal in the first half was a brilliant goal from [Lucy] Staniforth, it was a 4-0 game, and we come away with a 1-1.”

With VAR not set to feature at the World Cup – the referees are not trained to use it – Neville questioned the gap in quality between the players and officials: “Having VAR at the World Cup doesn’t worry me; the standard of refereeing does. If we want to make the women’s game the absolute top, we are asking a lot of the players and we’re putting them under immense pressure to challenge them and make them better professionals, that’s my biggest concern.”

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With Australia’s manager, Alen Stajcic, omitting likely summer starters such as Lydia Williams, Alanna Kennedy, Emily van Egmond and Sam Kerr from his squad for the current bout of friendlies, this was never going to be the blockbuster tie it could have been.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fran Kirby celebrates England’s opener at Craven Cottage. Photograph: Rob Newell/CameraSport via Getty Images

Taking the opportunity to give some of the fringe and younger players of his squad a chance to impress, Neville made five changes to the team that beat Brazil 1-0 on Saturday. The new starters impressed, Staniforth and Kiera Walsh particularly creative and efficient respectively in midfield, but it was the Arsenal forward Beth Mead who really looked to be staking a claim for a chance in France. The 23-year-old was a constant threat on the right, repeatedly turning past or outpacing Ellie Carpenter. With only five minutes on the clock she raced clear through the middle but the keeper, Mackenzie Arnold, read her run, came out and did enough to force Mead to put her flick wide.

Three minutes later Mead attempted a delightful backheel from a Fran Kirby cross, looking to beat Arnold at her near post, but the keeper was alert to the danger.

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Despite England’s changes it was the more experienced Kirby who once again gave England the lead. After 20 minutes Arnold failed to connect properly with a backpass and instead poked the ball into the path of Mead, who looked up, saw Kirby in space and passed selflessly across goal to the Chelsea striker, who in turn twisted beautifully past Carpenter to fire the Lionesses ahead.

The Matildas were not without chances of their own, England’s right‑back, Lucy Bronze, named on the first women’s Ballon D’or 15-woman shortlist along with Kirby this week, was drifting inside a little too often leaving space for Chloe Logarzo and Caitlin Foord to trouble Earps and force Steph Houghton across to cover.

England should have been ahead by more at the break. In the 44th minute Kirby sped through the middle, one-on-one against an onrushing Arnold, and played the ball across goal for Staniforth to power into the net from a tight angle, only to be incorrectly flagged as offside.

Soon afterwards Mead was brought down in the box, Foord clearly tripping the striker, but the referee waved away penalty appeals.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest England’s Beth Mead was brought down in Australia’s penalty area at the end of the first half, but no foul was given. Photograph: Rob Newell/CameraSport via Getty Images

With 25 minutes left, Mead and Staniforth made way for Saturday’s starters, Nikita Parris and Rachel Daly, while the 15-year-old Mary Fowler, who impressed and excited in her 20-minute cameo during Australia’s 2-0 defeat by France, came off the bench for the Matildas.

Houston Dash forward Daly was quick to get stuck in, looping a header on to the top of net before a cross from Alex Greenwood from the left saw her back-heel just over the bar. Meanwhile, Parris’s pace proved as dangerous on the break as it had against Brazil.

With 10 minutes to go Parris raced into the box from the right and Foord was again the villain, sliding in to take out the Manchester City winger, but the referee saw nothing amiss.

Quick guide England's road to France Show Hide World Cup countdown England next face Sweden, No 9 in the world, on 11 November at Rotherham United. Phil Neville revealed a possible trip to the Netherlands but the confirmation will likely await the outcome of the qualifiers for the final Uefa place. The women’s world rankings are revealed on 7 December, before the draw for the finals the following day where 24 teams will be drawn into six groups. The next international break is from 14-21 January. The Lionesses will then travel to the US for the SheBelieves Cup at the end of February. With Germany and France sitting out the four-team tournament the likely lineup will be the USA, Brazil and Japan. The 2019 World Cup finals kick off on 7 June at PSG’s Parc des Princes in Paris. The final is in Lyon on 7 July.

The inability to double the lead meant a nervy finish for England, much like against Brazil, and when Carpenter forced a first proper save from Earps, Polkinghorne was there to rise high and head home from the subsequent corner.

Does the draw make Neville question his philosophy? “I actually enjoy what we do. I enjoy Fran Kirby going one-on-one with someone then looking for a teammate to the side of her who is in a better position to score. That’s what great players do, that’s what great teams do. So we’re going to persevere with that.

“These last two games have just been frustrating. The players haven’t got the just rewards. We’ve played well, we’ve made two top-10 teams look pretty ordinary but there’s bigger tests to come.”