Huddersfield Town defender Jason Davidson was an unused substitute as Australia got their World Cup qualification campaign back on track with a 3-0 win over Kyrgyzstan in Canberra.

With the left-back nursing a calf injury, coach Ange Postecoglou instead picked Bradford City’s James Meredith, who had an impressive game.

The Socceroos are now a point behind Asian Confederation Group B leaders Jordan with five of eight initial qualifiers played.

Australia face Bangladesh in Dhaka on Tuesday while Jordan play in Kyrgyzstan.

Only the eight section winners are guaranteed entry to the third stage of qualifying (two groups of six).

Winning the group would mean avoiding the need to be one of the four best runners-up.

Socceroos skipper Mile Jedinak put his side ahead against Kyrgyzstan with a 39th-minute penalty.

Tim Cahill doubled the lead after 50 minutes before a 69th-minute own goal sealed the win in front of 19,412 at the GIO Stadium.