The first half was fairly evenly contested with both teams having good chances which were unrewarded.

At half-time, coach Jan Versleijen made only one change bringing on Nikolas Tsattalios for James Brown. The Young Socceroos scored in the 53rd minute when Mitch Nicholls gathered the ball in the front half, ran to the top of the box and swept one neatly past the goalkeeper.

The pace stepped up when Tahj Minniecon was brought on for Andreas Govas in the 54th minute, with Minniecon making an impact six minutes later with a trademark run down the right, to sidestep the defence from just inside the box with a pinpoint cross to Nathan Elasi who made no mistake in giving Australia their second goal.

Thailand then stepped up a gear and tested the Australian defence with two impressive saves by Alex Cisak within one minute of each other. Thailand kept up the pressure and rewarded 11 minutes later when a well-worked move to the Thai striker at the top edge of the box went past Cisak.

Versleijen was pleased with another win.

He said: "We have finished the group stage of the tournament in top position and that was our aim.

"In these first three games I have used as many players as possible, but now that we're moving into the knockout stage, I will be using the strongest possible team especially as we're also preparing for the Asian Championships later in the month."

Versleijen said that the second half was an improved performance on the first, and he was particularly pleased with the way the midfield worked hard to create chances.