Kristian Sarkies was Australia's other scorer as they edged out their rivals from across the Tasman.

Australia sought to impose themselves from the outset against a New Zealand team that was looking to get some much needed match practice

Mark Milligan opened the scoring for the Olyroos in the 26th minute when he headed home a Kristian Sarkies corner at the far post. But two minutes later Jeremy Brockie equalised for New Zealand with a header himself from a free-kick.

Kristian Sarkies grabbed the lead back for Australia in the 38th minute when he latched onto a poorly cleared ball and finished with aplomb from 15 yards to give his team the lead going into the break.

The second half saw Australia continue to apply the pressure and Stuart Musialik came close to extending the lead with a stinging shot only to see his attempt intercepted by the New Zealand Defence.

Jeremy Brockie equalised for New Zealand on the hour mark when he beat three defender at the edge of the box and coolly slot home past the advancing keeper Tando Velaphi.

Milligan scored the match winner in the 78th minute when a free-kick from Sarkies was floated into the box to a sea of bodies. From the ensuing goal mouth scramble, Milligan reacted best and fired home from close range.

Speaking after the match, Head Coach Graham Arnold was happy with result but was realistic about the areas his team need to work on

He said: "We have been working a lot on our combination play and I was very pleased with our performance in stages.

"If anything I was a little disappointed that we didn't get on the end of things. We should be able to kill those games off earlier.

"At the moment I'd say that we are around 75 per cent fitness levels and over the next three-and-a-half weeks we want to increase that by another 20 to 25 per cent to peak in China.

"We do need to work on our defence. The first goal came from a set move so we need to improve on that.

"But overall we played some good football and now we are looking towards the opening match of the Olympic Games against Serbia on the 7th of August."

Australia: Tando Velaphi, Jade North (Adrian Leijer 46),Stuart Musialik (Billy Celeski 72), Mark Milligan, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Kristian Sarkies, James Troisi, Matthew Spiranovic, Trent McClenahan, Nikita Rukavytsya (Matt Simon 79), Ruben Zadkovich (Mark Bridge 63).

The Olyroos will leave Australia on Thursday 17 July for three matches in China (20 July, Changchun City), Japan (24 July, Kobe) and South Korea (Seoul, 31 July) before heading back to China to prepare for their opening match of the 2008 Olympic Games against Serbia in Shanghai.