United get their rewards and then holds their nerve to see off Glory

After much nibbling on the edges, Noah Botic's fourth goal in his last six matches has lifted Western United to a 1-0 win over Perth Glory, who pushed hard but couldn't continue the host's late woes.

Ballarat, Victoria – When you’re having the type of season that Western United is having, it can make games like their 1-0 win over Perth Glory on Saturday afternoon almost feel like a 90-minute exercise in waiting for a pin to drop — just waiting for what will go wrong for them this time as they struggle through 2023-24. Thanks to Noah Botic’s fifth goal of the season, though, there was to be no such experience this time around. 

It started well, for across the opening 45 minutes on Saturday, United dominated Perth Glory. Adam Taggart would twice go close for the West Australian side but those were the only shots they would be credited with throughout the entire half -- and both came from corners, rather than open play and they were off-target.

Meanwhile, United was peppering the goals of Oliver Sail up the other end, ending the opening 45 minutes with 14 shots, with five on target, and 35 touches in the Glory penalty area compared to just the two going the other way. Sure, not every opportunity was a gilt-edged one, but the hosts – or nominal hosts, given Aloisi’s previous statements on Mars Stadium – were also playing some good-looking football in their attempts to find an opening goal while stymying what is normally one of the league’s most dangerous attacks.

“I thought that we still were able to get shots away,” said coach John Aloisi. “But we saw that they were defending very deep, especially in the first half, when we were crossing the ball. It was like 'The defending side is sitting so deep, we might be able to combine a little bit closer to the 18-yard box and see if we get shots away there'. And we did. We had a few good chances.”

At times, it almost felt like United wasn’t quite sure what to do with a level of ascendency that they have hardly tasted this season. Lachlan Wales frequently found himself at the top of the box only to loft high balls to nobody in particular at the back post, at a rate that made one start to wonder if it was an express instruction based on film analysis. On other occasions, much frittering in the box and short little passes in search of the perfect opportunity to shoot allowed Glory to get numbers back and block the shot when it finally came – ‘The thing about United is they always try and walk it in,’ type vibes. 

“I believe we were poor today,” Nahuel Arrarte, standing in as Glory coach for the suspended Alen Stajcic, said post-game. “We didn't we didn't play our best game. We've come off six games unbeaten with a lot of decent passages of play whereas today we weren't able to connect our passes.

“Little things, we weren't winning the first ball or second ball. And obviously, that's the DNA of our team, to make sure that we are continuously working hard and being able to break things down.”

Through much of what has been a largely ignominious campaign, Aloisi has remained insistent that his team’s performances have been good. Their stranglehold on the foot of the A-League Men table, he’s declared, is not reflective of their overall quality, and he’s been adamant there’s plenty to like about not only this team in the immediate term but what it’s going to be in the years ahead.  

How much stock you put in those declarations may differ, perhaps varying based on whether your loyalties lie in green and black or not. Sure, United has shown signs this season, but they also entered Saturday evening's either bottom or close to the bottom of most meaningful stats surrounding team performance – lowlighted by what was easily the league’s most profligate attack. 

If you were Aloisi, it would have felt like a familiar script was playing out before your eyes. Create enough chances to get something, fail to take them, and then get punished for it. Perth wasn’t playing well, not helped by the pitch slowing the game down but also because their midfield was clearly second-best, but they still had Adam Taggart and Stefan Colakovski up top. All it would take would be one rapid breakaway, like Colakvoski almost had in the 39th minute, only for Matt Sutton to get out of his box quickly to snuff out the danger.

Thus, when Josh Risdon burst forward from his position at right back in the 53rd minute and sliced a perfect ball in behind the Glory lines for Botic to run onto and cooly finish past an on-rushing Sail, it would have felt like mana from heaven for the coach. Not only was his young striker rewarding him for the consistent trust and patience he’s received – his fourth goal in his last six games after a slow start to the campaign – it was also a breakthrough opening goal that ensured this wasn’t going to be one of those days. 

Well, at least not one of those days.  

Because once United took the lead, they needed to defend it, and that’s been a problem for them as of late. Against Melbourne Victory, they were up 1-0 after the 90 minutes expired, only to ship two goals in injury time and lose. Twice they took the lead against Brisbane last week only to then be pegged back, the second time again coming in injury time. 

And indeed, David Williams would have the ball in the back of the net on the hour mark to bring those fears to life, only for the hosts to be saved by the whistle; referee Shaun Evans having determined that Taggart had fouled Kane Vidmar in the build-up in a manner that allowed Daniel Bennie to slide the pass through for Williams. It was a contentious call, none involved with Glory were happy, but it kept United ahead. 

“Haven't had a chance to look back at it. From where I was... I thought it looked like a fair goal,” Arrarte said.

“Once we go back and analyze it and watch the game again we will have a clearer picture from a different angle but from where I was, I didn't see anything wrong with it.”

Nonetheless, United held their nerve, even after Botic bobbled a massive chance to make it 2-0, instead pushing the ball over the line with his arm and seeing it disallowed. Glory had one final, agonising chance to equalise just before the 90 expired when a corner was swung onto the head of Darryl Lachman, only for his header to bounce off the crossbar and back into play. Bennie was there for the rebound, only to put his volley from just yards out over the crossbar. 

“We felt that we controlled the game and dominated the game from start to nearly finish -- we felt that we could have won that a lot easier than we did,” said Aloisi.

“But in the end, we had to find the way in the last five minutes. The last two games we conceded goals in stoppage time, so the boys would have been a little bit anxious that could happen again, but we had to dig in and I was just really happy for the players.

“We kept the clean sheet against the side that scores a lot of goals, creates a lot of chances; we restricted them. I think other than the one at the end that hit the crossbar I don't think they had a chance all game. And then we had plenty we had plenty. It was a good performance.”