Western United suffered a convincing 5-0 defeat at the hands of Western Sydney Wanderers in Round 2 of the A-League men on Saturday night.
Coach John Aloisi named an unchanged line-up from the season opener against Melbourne City, with the entire 18-man squad carrying over into this contest.
That meant new signings Daniel Penha, Angus Thurgate, Riku Danzaki and Tom Heward-Belle continued in the starting XI, with youngsters Kane Vidmar and Matthew Grimaldi featuring on the bench.
The match burst into life early on with a chance at both ends. Ben Garuccio’s cross was just taken off the head of Penha in the nick of time before Brook forced a good save from Heward-Belle at the other end.
But it was the Wanderers that exploded into the game with a quickfire double thanks to two strikes from winger Lachlan Brook.
The first was brilliant as he cut inside from the right wing and bent a brilliant left-footed effort into the far corner, while the second was a little closer to home and nestled into the bottom corner via a deflection off Tomoki Imai.
With the two goals coming virtually from nothing so early on, United remained calm and began to settle in possession, with a fine team move culminating in a Josh Risdon strike that stung Lawrence Thomas’ midriff.
Penha had a couple of half chances but couldn’t get the ball under control at the final moment as United looked slick in possession but exposed defensively.
Western Sydney were able to break through United’s press with relative ease and had willing runners in behind to turn the visitors’ defence around and get in on goal.
There was nearly a third and another spectacular strike when Jorrit Hendrix let fly from similar range to Brook’s opener, but this time the long-range effort rattled the post.
The home side seemed to have space everywhere they went in the final third and Milanovic made it 3-0 when he headed home from Jack Clisby’s cross just past the half hour mark.
The fourth came via another header, this time from captain Marcelo who leapt unguarded at a corner to thump the ball into the net.
With the damage done there is a significantly lower pace to the game following the restart, but United continued to try to find some joy in the game.
In possession, the Green and Black showed flashes of quality with Ramy Najjarine impressing off the bench as a half-time substitute.
He and Penha came closest to finding a goal back for United and remained lively until the final whistle sounded.
It was a night to forget for Aloisi’s men who will quickly move forward and look ahead to another trip to New South Wales to take on Macarthur FC in Round 3.
