Western United attacker Lachie Wales has salvaged a 1-1 draw against Macarthur FC to earn the reigning champions the first point of their A-League Men defence.
United had appeared set to rue their inefficiency for a third consecutive game, with Bulls defender Matthew Millar’s goal in the 24th minute splitting the teams for the majority of Friday night’s clash.
But in front of a sparse crowd at AAMI Park, Wales equalised in the 69th minute.
Australia Cup champions Macarthur remain unbeaten after three ALM games under Dwight Yorke but their night was doubly soured when they were forced to substitute gun goalkeeper Filip Kurto in the 76th minute.
Macarthur’s World Cup aspirant Daniel Arzani had a tough night out, largely blanketed by his Russia 2018 teammate and United co-captain Josh Risdon, who also assisted Wales’ equaliser.
Bulls midfielder Daniel De Silva was excellent throughout.
Wales was busy early, smashing a shot over the bar in the sixth minute and almost teeing up Connor Pain in the 16th and 17th minutes.
But minutes later, United’s defence slipped up and Macarthur snatched the advantage.
Craig Noone played a short corner with Arzani then whipped the ball to the near post where Millar inexplicably escaped his marker to score with a lovely glancing header.
Arzani earned some rare space away from Risdon in the 55th minute, charging forward to force a good save from Jamie Young.
Four minutes later Risdon had a good chance to equalise but scuffed his shot and it deflected wide.
United continued to press and in the 63rd minute, Kurto made a big reflex save to deny Dylan Wenzel-Halls.
Six minutes later, Risdon lifted the ball into the six-yard box and Wales slid in to toepoke home.
The assistant referee initially ruled Wales had been offside but it was overruled by the VAR.
United co-captain Alessandro Diamanti came on in the dying minutes for his first appearance since suffering a knee injury on February 20.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Crowd - 2423! Shocking.
John Newy
Guest
I would like to champion Lackie Wales cause for inclusion into the Socceroos squad. At the moment Hrustic is injured, McGree not shining, Metcalfe slowly building, Devlin different qualities. Mooy has shown improvement no doubt he will be there with Irvine. We have all watched Lackie mature and develop from CCM to MCY and now WU. At MCY I felt he missed that final clinical pass or accurate cross. Now is his time! He’s tall, athletic, hungry, fast with developed skills and one for the future. And Lackie please transfer to Scotland in the January window. You will carve them up at a higher level. Ange take note!
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Missed the game, sounds like it was alright. Anyone get the crowd numbers?>
Garry
Roar Rookie
The only plus defensively is Risdon had a better game. His lack of height was exposed last week.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Agree, WU needed someone to take the chances – Troisis’s game is neat BUT very slow and predictable these days – but their defence is lacking and they wont control play against most teams. Macarthur missed Davila’s control and I’m sorry but Rose is out of his depth. He may be aYorke & fan favourite for the effort he puts in but he adds nothing.
Garry
Roar Rookie
They were good last night but I adjusted them to bottom 3 and I dont see much better yet. Imai was the lock on their defence and LeCroix is out of touch, I think mid table will be a dogfight as all teams have their moments..
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
They cant defend anymore, they have conceeded 6 goals in 3 games. Prijovic will improve the finshing I doubt they will ever get as easy and unlimited access to an oppposition penalty area again Macarthur can be better defensively with Bacchus, Holman and Mwoomba. Against City they really struggled to do anything and thats the only decent defence they have faced. Prijovic wont improve the pressing up front, which was key in creating chances against Sydney.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Western United they had a huge number of chances in this game a lot more than in the Sydney game, and against City they had few and scored one. It was embarrasing , not as embarassing as losing, but still three points lost. Macarthur were a bit of a train wreck, Skotadis I think is a bad dm worse than Amini, and you couple that with wingers that dont track back, De Silva and Noone also switch off a lot.
Sports
Guest
Also the fact that midfielders can’t hit the goals in Australia is probably the biggest indicator that Australian football isn’t designed around scoring goals but putting in work without a clear objective.
David Shilovsky
Expert
They're certainly better than their results would indicate. I had Aloisi's side finishing third, perhaps need to adjust that to the lower portion of the six, but they'll play finals.
Sports
Guest
Once Prijovic is back, I can see WU being a top team.
Sports
Guest
Decent game. WU looked way more dangerous. Macarthur seem to be happy letting the other team fire at will. Either Yorke is taking a big risk in his tactics or he thinks that A League teams can’t finish so it’s fine. Can’t see Macarthur’s tactics working well against the top teams.