Tarneit arrival boosting Western hopes of adding to Adelaide home woes
After finally moving into Tarneit, John Aloisi believes the new home comforts will boost his side as they prepare to face an Adelaide outfit that has proven unusually friendly hosts this season.
After moving into their new training base in Tarneit, Western United coach John Aloisi believes the new home comforts will help his side retain momentum heading into a clash with an Adelaide United side that has proven anything but hostile hosts in 2023-24.
Though it came too late to give them any hope of a late run for finals football, Western has quietly gone about putting together one of the A-League Men’s better runs of form as of late, losing just one of their last six games and going undefeated in their last four.
A 90th-minute effort from Ben Garuccio rescued a 2-2 draw in their last hitout against Melbourne Victory, a game Aloisi feels his side should have won given how he thought they played.
The international break, however, has forced Western to sit on their hands in the 15 days since that clash. Generally not ideal for momentum, although this extended break was broken up for Western’s men by their first training sessions as the club’s new training base in Tarneit.
And this novelty, the coach believes, has helped maintain the group’s wherewithal heading into tonight’s fixture.
“The players are feeling confident, I've seen that in training,” said Aloisi. “I've seen the big lift even more so that we're now in Tarneit. It's been a good opportunity to shift and move into a new facility and get used to the surroundings, and the pitch.
“The boys look confident, the way that they're training, the way they're moving the ball, the intensity has remained high. Sometimes when there's no game on a weekend, you can see the player's mindset isn't quite there. But it has been.”
After the women’s side of Kat Smith played the first competitive fixture at the venue on March 17, Western received approval from the league to stage its remaining three men’s home games at their training base during the international break, starting with Macarthur FC on April 6.
Though it in no way replaces their commitments to build a stadium at the site, the training base will serve to finally give Western a consistent home base for all but the largest of fixtures heading into the future, as well as base themselves in their actual proposed heartland of Melbourne’s west.
“It's ours, we're home, we're in the West,” said Aloisi. “That's the most important thing. We can start to build now. For me, it seems the start of a new chapter if you like, and a new beginning for the club.
“Because it wasn't easy. [Fans] having to travel here, there and everywhere to watch us play. We thank the supporters who have travelled to a lot of different places but now we're in one place. I'm hoping we can grow that support even more and make it a real fortress here. Try and build something that the opposition teams hate going to and that we love playing in.”
A fortress. In the past, the word has been used to describe Hindmarsh Stadium, a bastion of Adelaide and their fearsome support that chastens all who enter with its hostile surroundings. In the past being the operative qualifier, however, as that hasn’t really been the case this season.
After starting forebodingly enough with a 3-0 win over defending champions the Central Coast and a 6-0 thrashing of defending premiers Melbourne City, the Reds' form at home has since slumped.
Their lone win at the venue after that opening fortnight came last December when they defeated Newcastle 3-1, the same side they defeated on the road in the last game before the international break.
Six home games have come and gone without a win since, contributing to a run of form wherein Western, if they can add another defeat to the five Adelaide has already suffered at home this season, will draw level with them on points.
“We’re just looking at what we can do,” Reds coach Carl Veart said. “It’s about us getting three points with six games to go. Western United are in a good run of form of late and have picked up some good points in the last few weeks as well, so it’s going to be a tough game. It’s important that we play with the same energy and passion that we showed in Newcastle.”
A native of South Australia, Aloisi nonetheless knows full well the challenges of coming to the City of Churches and getting a result.
“I expect [Adelaide] to come out firing and press high up, they've got good energy about them when they do that,” he said. “I expect them to try and get the supporters behind them. We have to expect a difficult game, very similar to what we expected against Western Sydney Wanderers a few weeks back.
“They've got good players going forward, they've got experienced players, Zach Clough, Hiroshi Ibusuki, Stefan Mauk, and then in the midfield Isaías and then you've got Ryan Kitto down one side and I'm pretty sure Javi Lopez will start down the other side. So they've got really good experience. Then they got some young talented players. Nestory Irankunda, on his day, he's hard to handle.
“So we have to be aware of all this and make sure that we try and play our football and if we do that, then it can make it an easier game for us, [but it's] never going to be an easy game down in Adelaide.”
Aloisi confirmed that Thomas Heward-Belle will return from his finger injury for the trip to South Australia but that Matt Sutton, having kept goal during Western's recent run on form despite the absence of their number one, would retain his place against the Reds.