Australia boss Ange Postecoglou insists the team will learn valuable lessons from Wednesday night's 4-3 friendly defeat to Ecuador.
The Socceroos led 3-0 at half-time at The Den in London but capitulated in the second half, conceding four goals and having goalkeeper Mitch Langerak sent off, to fall to an injury-time winner.
Despite the defeat, Postecoglou believes that some positive signs came out of the match as the Aussies continue to build ahead of the World Cup later this year.
"Obviously disappointed," Postecoglou told Fox Sports after the match.
"Little bit heartbreaking for the lads that we couldn't hold out for at least a draw. It was some useful lessons we'll learn out of it. We exposed some of our young players to a whole (new) level of football in a pretty hostile environment and they're massive positives for us.
"You prefer not to be in that situation. The game got a little bit out of control for us, they lifted their game.
"We just couldn't get hold of the ball unfortunately. We look like we got a bit tired and ran out of legs in certain areas. We made some mistakes. It's a good lesson of what you can and can't do."
Postecoglou said he was fairly pleased by his side's first-half performance but insisted that it simply wasn't enough at international level.
"I have absolute belief in what we can do, in what our young players can do," Postecoglou added.
"The first half was very good. We caught them by surprise, they probably underestimated us a little bit. But ultimately it's about a 90-minute performance. We paid a price and we can't let that happen again."
