Tara Murray
Western United showed glimpses of its championship winning form as it recorded its second win of the A-League Men’s season on Sunday.
Sitting at the bottom of the table with only one win, victory against the Western Sydney Wanderers was a must on Sunday to start getting United’s season back on track.
An early first half goal from Aleksandar Prijovic gave United the lead after a great team piece of work. While both teams had chances to score later in the game, neither could find the back of the net, giving United a 1-0 win.
United coach John Aloisi said it was a massive win for the side.
“We got a win in Wellington which was our first win of the season but it was really important to keep that clean sheet,” he said.
“Make sure we get back to what we are really good at, that is making teams that play against us hard to actually score any goals or have chances, we showed that today.
“The performance was great, all round performance. We’ve been questioned a lot about the group, are they together, do they want to work together, they showed today how much they wanted to work for each other.”
Aloisi said inside the club they had never questioned the group, but the white noise outside the club was growing with each loss.
He said the result against the Wanderers put that to bed.
“When you’re down at the bottom, it’s easy to start pointing fingers and start looking at excuses,” he said.
“They didn’t do that and they haven’t done that, they work hard for each other and they work well together.”
Tongo Doumbia was given his first start in the green and black with Aloisi saying he did a great job.
He said he’s only going to get better when he gets match fit and gets a better understanding of the league.
The win moves United off the bottom of the table with the side sitting in 11th, ahead of Perth Glory.
Aloisi is backing his team to go on a run and get back in the mix.
“We believe we can go all the way again,” he said.
“We know its a process and it’s a long season there’s plenty of games to be played, we’re getting plenty of players back in
“We can definitely go on a run, we’ve got no doubt about that.”
United’s next match is against Melbourne Victory on Boxing Day. Aloisi said they were hoping to have a big crowd to watch them.
“I want to see a big crowd, make sure it’s very safe for everyone,” he said. “Boxing Day is a big day in Australia for a number of reasons.
“From our players, keep working to improve, we know it’s going to be a hard game against a very good side.
“If we’re fighting for each other, we should be able to get the result that we wanted.”
