Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson has acknowledged the Australians can’t rest on their laurels following Monday morning’s remarkable comeback victory against Zambia.

The Matildas’ Olympic campaign was on life support after Zambia scored four goals in the first half of their group-stage contest in Nice, including a hat-trick for captain Barbra Banda.

The Australians were trailing by 5-2 in the 56th minute before substitute Michelle Heyman inspired a dramatic second-half resurgence, with the Matildas booting four unanswered goals to clinch a vital 6-5 victory.

“We obviously wouldn’t want it to go exactly how it did, but I think the way the game ended says so much about the heart and spirit of this team,” Australian captain Steph Catley said afterwards.

“We didn’t drop our heads once. We knew we could get back into it. We knew we could score goals.

“Obviously we didn’t want to concede (five goals) … but at the end of the day, we needed a win, and we did.”

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Australia remains a chance of qualifying for the Olympic quarter-finals, but Gustavsson admitted the team couldn’t gloss over what was otherwise a woeful performance.

The 64th-ranked Zambians repeatedly breezed past Australia’s defence lines throughout the topsy-turvy encounter, booting five goals in less than 60 minutes against the World Cup semi-finalists.

“This was one of the craziest games we’ve ever played,” Gustavsson told Channel 9 after the match.

“I mean how many times have these players done that? This is not the time to dwell about how we conceded five goals because obviously that was s***.

“This is the time to talk about the spirit in this team. They scored on their first shot in the game, how do we respond to that? Being up against the wall a little bit before the game starts and then concede five and still win? I mean, what a group of players this is, they’re so amazing.

“We did a lot of work but we conceded on some pieces as well, so we need to keep working on the defensive ones.

“But attacking ones we spent a lot of time working on that and we were brutal on those, and normally we are, so I’m glad we’re back with the being good at set plays.

“We didn’t play well, we conceded a lot of goals.

“Sorry if I got your heart rate up today and it was nerves in there, but finally we got it done.”

The Matildas defenders once again conceded multiple goals from set pieces, a worrying trend that emerged during last week’s humbling 3-0 loss to Germany, while the attackers botched several regulation chances at goal — most notably Caitlin Foord, who missed an absolute sitter in the dying minutes.

The Australians registered 12 shots during the scrappy first half, but repeatedly failed to find the back of the net.

“What I said to the players in the centre circle is that right now is not the time to dwell on why we conceded so many goals,” Gustavsson said.

“I will look at the video tonight and we will work through that tomorrow.

“Right now we are focusing on the spirit and energy we used to get this done and turn the game around.”

Australia has three days to prepare for its next challenge — Thursday’s blockbuster clash with Team USA in Marseille. The Matildas will need at least a draw to guarantee a spot in the Olympic quarter-finals, while a narrow defeat could be enough for them to sneak through pending other results.

But regardless, radical improvement is needed for Australia to have any chance of standing on the podium next weekend.

“Sometimes it takes a couple of games to get into a tournament and hopefully we play our way into this tournament when it comes to form,” Gustavsson continued.

“No one can questions their fitness after today — to push through that type of game when you’re three goals down with 35 minutes to go.

“There are things we can do better defensively, yes, but I think if we are fair, if you want to look at all the chances we had we were close to eight to 10 goals in this game.”

Australia will face the USA at Marseille Stadium on Thursday morning at 3am AEST.