Matildas fans leap to Ellie Carpenter’s defence after online trolls hit star with shocking abuse over her play against England

Matildas fans have rallied around defender Ellie Carpenter after she was targeted by online trolls following her defensive error that led to England’s second goal in Wednesday night’s World Cup semi-final.

Sam Kerr recalled in time why she is the best player in the world after a superb second-half equalizer for Australia – but the Lionesses were ahead again minutes later.

Ellie Carpenter, who played quite a game at right-back for Australia, made a critical error in the 71st minute that she would certainly like to forget.

Carpenter, Australia’s youngest athlete at the Rio Olympics, misjudged a longball and allowed Lauren Hemp to shoot on target and capitalize.

Former Matilda Amy Chapman was brutally outspoken about Optus Sport’s defensive error right after the game.

Carpenter misjudged a longball in the 71st minute and allowed Lauren Hemp to get a shot on target to put England ahead again

“It’s a terrible defense from the Australians,” she said on Optus Sport.

Ellie Carpenter, not on the initial back ball. It really shouldn’t have been anything at all. But Lauren Hemp, she’s been busy all night, she’s been the best in England all night and she puts that away without a problem.

“I’m a big fan of Ellie, but that’s a colossal mistake. A game-changing mistake on her part not to deal with that and Hemp was there to strike.”

Online trolls also took to social media after the game to blast Carpenter, forcing the Matildas to limit comments on their official social media pages.

“Ellie Carpenter really ruined what could have been one of the greatest moments in Australian sporting history,” one Twitter user wrote.

Great game against England. Not. You cost us victory with that so-called defending. As soon as YOU screwed up, momentum crashed and England rolled. But thanks for nothing,” an Instagram user commented on the defender’s photo.

“Terrible defending, terrible passes, terrible crosses, terrible tackles, just terrible,” replied another.

Many fans have also rushed to defend the 23-year-old against all the negative comments.

The 23-year-old was very emotional after the loss, but paid tribute to her opponents

“Ignore the haters on their benches, Ellie,” one Matildas fan commented. We are proud of you and the whole team. What guts and determination. Top 4 is insanely good.’

“The things people say about Ellie Carpenter… this is really not okay. She shines throughout the tournament. Be nice,” said one Twitter user.

“Ellie Carpenter has had to limit her comments on her Instagram posts from 4 days ago and after,” one fan posted on Twitter.

Did she mess up defensively by costing a goal? Yes. Does she deserve abuse on her social media platform or not at all? F**k no. I’ll never understand how people really think that’s okay.”

Carpenter said she was “heartbroken” after the defeat to England, but paid tribute to her opponents.

“Obviously heartbroken, there’s not much more to say about it,” Carpenter said.

‘It’s a great team. I think we did well to get back into the game, but of course mistakes happen and we still have a game to go.

“When we started this tournament we wanted to inspire a country and I think we have done that.

“There are more Matildas fans than ever and the crowd was huge tonight.

“We are a team that bounces back together, we stay together and we have everything to play for against Sweden. We don’t want to leave this tournament empty-handed.’