New club starts on right foot
WESTERN United wasted no time leaving its mark on the ALeague, beating Wellington Phoenix 1-0 on its competitive debut.
Besart Berisha took the first-ever touch by a United player and scored the club’s first goal, netting a first-half volley to get the expansion club up and running.
Mark Rudan’s side will face tougher opponents this season — the Phoenix were listless and non-threatening for much of last night’s clash.
But on this evidence, Western’s expensively assembled and hyper-experienced outfit will make good on its promise to challenge for the finals in its first season, ahead of its opening home match at GMHBA Stadium this weekend.
Alessandro Diamanti pulled the strings in midfield, Connor Pain was bright out wide and Dario Jertec was a fine foil in the middle.
United looked well-drilled from the off, even as Andrew Durante — marshalling the three-man defence at age 37 — was jeered relentlessly by fans of his former club.
Nix fans also delivered an unwelcoming return for Rudan, booing him throughout and throwing flags at him as he went through the race.
“No dramas. It’s to be expected. All good. All part of the fun, isn’t it,” Rudan said.
One fan brought a particularly scathing “One Thief, Three Traitors” banner; a reference to Rudan and the players which defected from the Nix to the expansion side.
Rudan was more interested in the result, which he called “one for the history books”.
“This win tonight is dedicated to all the people who have worked so hard behind the scenes to get this football club up and running, and there’s been a lot of them,” he said.
Another player that might have been in Wellington colours hurt the Phoenix the most.
Berisha’s 34th-minute goal, his record 117th A-League strike, was all the crueller for the Phoenix given the former title-winner turned them down to sign with Western.
He was left unmarked to volley home Josh Risdon’s cutback from Pain’s cross. The result may foreshadow a season of struggle for Ufuk Talay’s side.
As predicted, without a proven goalscorer in his side to replace Roy Krishna and David Williams, Wellington struggled to create chances.
Hyped Mexican signing Ulises Davila didn’t leave an impression and Filip Kurto had only one save to make: a memorable dive from Liberato Cacace’s long-range bomb.
Alex Rufer should have equalised with 20 minutes remaining from Callum McCowatt’s volleyed centre, only to struggle to deal with the pace of the cross. Stefan Marinovic then produced a top-drawer save to deny Scott McDonald a goal on his return to Australian club football more than two decades after he left it.
Matches against last season’s grand finalists Sydney FC and Perth follow for Wellington, before away days against Melbourne’s other two clubs in a challenging first month for Talay and his team.