Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw said that one mistake had decided the game in her side's 1-0 loss to Australia in their World Cup opener in Sydney.
Despite a typically resilient and combative display, it was Steph Catley's 52nd minute penalty which settled the game, after Marissa Sheva had bundled over Hayley Raso in the box as a cross floated in from the left.
"It's very disappointing," Pauw told RTÉ Sport's Tony O'Donoghue afterwards.
"We said at half-time this is a game that will be decided on one mistake, whether it's them or us. And that's what happened."
Asked whether she accepted the penalty decision, Pauw said, "I don't know. I haven't seen it on the bench. I will have to review it."
Ireland piled on the pressure in the closing stages, with Megan Connolly's late free kick grazing the top of the net, and Katie McCabe's snatched shot in the box saved by the Aussie keeper Mackenzie Arnold. However, they couldn't find the equaliser.
Vera Pauw predicted the game would be decided by a mistake and so it proved, however the manager is immensely proud of her Irish team
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"I'm very proud of that. We brought on Abbie (Larkin) and Lucy (Quinn) to get more pressure forward. To have fresh legs there. They came on very, very well. We put more pressure on them with Louise (Quinn) up front. But you need to have a little bit of luck."
The hosts were rocked by the absence of their prolific striker, Chelsea's Sam Kerr, who was ruled out with a calf injury incurred in training, the news filtering through just an hour before kick-off.
She was replaced by Manchester City's Mary Fowler, daughter of Dublin father, whose two sisters had played underage football for Ireland. But Pauw was proud of how Ireland had coped with the Australian attacking threat.
"Sam Kerr is one of the major top strikers of the world. Her not playing, of course, was an advantage for us.
"But they have such a powerful team. It was difficult to play against them. But I think we've done so well.
"They didn't have a lot of chances.
"I think a draw would have been a reasonable result. But that doesn't count. I think everyone is proud that we are part of the top nations. We can only grow from this."
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