Cade Lucas
“Guaranteed,” declared John Aloisi emphatically.
The Western United coach had just witnessed his team comeback from a 0-2 first half deficit to beat Macarthur 4-2 in the club’s first men’s A-League match in Tarneit on Saturday.
When asked post-game if his last placed team would be higher up the ladder if they’d been able to play at their new home earlier, the former Socceroos hero was in no doubt.
“It’s guaranteed we would,” he said before adding “we can’t change it now” lest he been seen making excuses.
Given the way his side surfed the wave of home support to just their sixth victory of the campaign, one that lifted them of the foot of the table, Aloisi had a point.
Equally, the fact this win required such a stirring second half comeback suggests Western’s problems this seasons go a little bit deeper than just where they play their home fixtures.
Those problems were on full display in a first half when a penalty from Macarthur’s Valerie Germain, followed by a strike from Ulises Davilla, threatended to turn a party atmopshere funereal.
Fortunately Western did enough to keep the 3045 crowd interested, with Daniel Penha and Michael Ruhs both going close, while Riki Danzaki had a goal ruled out on the half hour mark.
It remained 0-2 at the break, but it didn’t take long after the interval for the comeback and the atmosphere, to kick into gear.
Danzaki scored legitimately on 52 minutes, followed by Ruhs on 56 and substitute Matthew Grimalidi on 59, as in the space of a wild seven minutes Western turned a two goal deficit into a one goal lead and their new home into a bear pit.
When Ruhs wrapped things up with his second on 65 minutes, Tarneit was hopping.
Out on the new terraces, the flags were waving and the drums from the Western Service Crew were making a racket, only drowned out by ‘Go West’ blaring from the PA at full-time.
While the crowd was not quite a sellout, with one of the temporary stands not yet approved for use, Aloisi said atmosphere they provided was the best the club had experienced.
“When you have this sort of crowd at AAMI Park, the noise isn’t as big because it’s a bigger stadium,” he said.
“So just having, you know, 3 to 4000 people in a small stadium like this, it gives the boys energy. I’ve said it so many times that we will have such a lift from playing in our own home and that will end up making it into a fortress. And we started well today by doing that.”
The club’s next match in Tarneit is a men’s and women’s A-League double header against the Central Coast Mariners on April 13.
