After back-to-back losses, United eye bounce back in race for ALW plate

The Jets may have spoiled Western United's homecoming and Chloe Logarzo is in a race to prove her fitness but A-League Women boss Kat Smith isn't raising any alarm bells about her side just yet.

All in all, Sunday’s A-League Women clash with the Newcastle Jets wasn’t the kind of homecoming, the club’s first-ever competitive game in its new training base in its envisioned heartland of Tarneit, that Western United envisioned. 

Kat Smith’s side went down inside four minutes on the way to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Novocastrians, with Aimee Mediwin's 20th-minute equaliser instantly cancelled out by Lauren Allan before Sarina Bolden iced the game in the 66th minute. 

It was a second-straight loss for United, following their 3-1 result away to Sydney the previous week, and one that saw them fall out of first place and into second on the table, beyond those aforementioned Sky Blues, heading into the international break. 

Making matters worse, a blow had arrived even before kickoff with the news that midfield stalwart Adriana Taranto was facing up to a year out after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, while skipper Chloe Logarzo faced a race against time to be ready for finals football with a hip injury. 

That they’d finally moved into Ironbark Fields meant that they were winners by some on the day regardless. But, yeah, a win would have been nice, too. 

“It's pretty evident that in some of the aspects of our game style that we were lacking,” Smith reflected. “We can address those. That's not a big concern. I think the performance overall, we saw some positives there, but again, it comes down to doing enough to get the result – we're at that pointy end in the season. 

“We can look at the game, we can dissect both the first and second half and see some of our deficiencies. 

“It's just making sure that our players [are ready] as best they can be to perform and execute on the day. So that's what's going to be our focus.”

Smith had sprung a surprise on the team sheets with her decision to start Alyssa Dall'Oste, a Calder United alumni in her second season with the club, over Kathrine Larsen, who had been signed as a replacement for Hillary Beall after she departed for the San Diego Wave. 

External expectations were that the Dane, a member of her nation’s 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup squad, had been brought in as the number one, only for her to lose her spot to her 23-year-old teammate, who did start United’s first four games of the season before Beall’s return on loan.  

“Alyssa, unfortunately, with her finger injury at the time, with Hillary on the way out, she didn't have the opportunity to really have a run of performances and training to get her to a point,” Smith said when asked about the change. 

“We always knew we had to bring in another goalkeeper… we want to have competition for places. Alyssa has been in a position where she's shown that she can play her role early on in the season before I arrived and she gets her opportunity now that she [was] free of any sort of niggles. 

“We've given her the opportunity, she's deserving of it, and I thought she did really well today.”

United now face two games on the road to end their regular season, seeking to lock up a top-two finish and a week off in the first week of an extended finals series even if they're unable to overhaul the Sky Blues. 

They'll travel to face Western Sydney, the side that axed Smith just a week out from the A-League Women season, this Saturday. Bit going on there. Then they’ll end their campaign away to the upstart Central Coast, who, buoyed by the return to health of Kyah Simon, have stormed to fourth position on the table. 

Winning both of those games would see them end the season with 41 points, meaning their hopes of a Premiership rest upon Sydney, currently on 36 points with a game-in-hand, being unable to win two of their last three fixtures against Adelaide, Canberra, and Melbourne Victory. 

After heading up to the Sydney Football Stadium and defeating them in a major semifinal, United would have hosted the Harboursiders in the 2022-23 Grand Final had it not been for the APL’s since reversed move to sell hosting rights to the decider to Destination NSW, instead forced to travel to Parramatta and losing 4-0. 

This year’s Unite Round then saw the side from Melbourne’s west lose another ostensible home game to Sydney, travelling north to ‘host’ them at the Sydney Football Stadium and going down 1-0. 

Needless to say, United are over having to travel to play Sydney. 

“What's added motivation is that we played Sydney once at home out of the five that we played them,” said defender Alana Cerne. “We played them at home, we beat them 2-0. It just shows that [their] home advantage is great. 

“But it is what it is, we face whoever we've gone and we play them wherever. We just go out and play our game and play for our club.”

Of course, they would also love to have a former Sky Blue, Logarzo, amongst their ranks if they did meet again, be it in Tarneit or Moore Park. 

The United talisman was on crutches as she watched her side go down to the Jets, a precautionary step taken after it was discovered, per a club spokesperson, that she was at risk of a stress fracture. 

“We're looking at finals,” Smith said of a potential return. “She's just going through a phase of non-weight bearing and that obviously is going to help the speed of her recovery. And we hope to see her again, back end or in the finals.”