Western United’s head coach watched his team control the season finale, deserved reward for his work this season writes Tom Smithies.
Maybe we should have known this was how the Grand Final would play out, in a week where one reigning power had already been swept out of office and cast aside by the forces of change.
As the final seconds ticked down, with Western United in total control of the Grand Final and about to depose Melbourne City as champions, the nervous anticipation on Western’s bench betrayed the magnitude of what they were about to achieve.
Thanks to John Aloisi’s hugely impressive stewardship over the past 10 months, a team with no home ground and still only three seasons old was owning the season finale and deservedly heading for a place in history.
A goal up inside two minutes, with a second following soon after, set the course of a perfect evening for Aloisi’s men. By contrast, nothing went right for City, and the increasing frustration was palpable across every face of those in City Blue. But ultimately the reigning champions fell short of retaining their crown because they played only one half of football.
For almost the whole of the opening 45 minutes, City’s centre-backs and defensive midfielders sought to play in their feared front three with weighted balls that failed to release their target almost every time. None of the deliverers had the guile in their feet to execute what is a fiendishly difficult concept, and the runs of Mathew Leckie, Jamie Maclaren and Andrew Nabbout were entirely longitudinal – not a hint of an angle or a curve to disturb the equilibrium of Western United’s back four.
Led with his usual calm by Leo Lacroix, that back four simply lapped up the predictable service sent their way. As Ernie Merrick pointed out pre-match in these pages, Western’s defensive structure is a narrow 4-4-2, and every one of its members executed their role with diligence to keep City at bay.
Western have been the form team of the finals and, in the end, entirely deserved winners. From round 12 to round 23 they sat in second place before a mini-crumble in their last three games brought just a single point, and left them to finish third.
Aloisi’s team could have sulked or subsided at that point but did neither. The mentality was of a side trusting in itself, believing in its work ethic and confident that success lay within reach. It’s important to note also the work that went into creating that mentality, rooted in a dressing room transformed since the appointment of their new head coach.
After years away from coaching, and surviving a heart scare, Aloisi is a calmer, more considered figure, and the culture he has set reflects that. A senior figure in the game, well acquainted with the Western side this season, talked before the game of how much players want to play for coaches they respect; the proof of the pudding, he argued, was the way this Western side play for Aloisi.
City, to their credit, made more of a game of it in the second half, moving the ball quickly with shorter passes and creating space in wider areas. Curtis Good hit the bar with a header, Connor Metcalfe headed over when well placed. Jamie Young, purveyor of breathtaking saves as a matter of routine throughout the finals, settled for one tip over and assured handling.
In the end this was a triumph for the veterans, Young included. After a season when young talent has made hay, the quartet of Young (37), Neil Kilkenny (36), Aleksandar Prijovic (32) and Lacroix (30) controlled this game from the moment Prijovic forced Nuno Reis into an own goal in just the second minute.
Prijovic took home the Joe Marsden Medal for player of the match, and he has had an increasing influence on his side and the title race, with involvement in eight goals in seven games coming into this match. His challenge on Reis sparked the opening goal, and his rifled finish from a lucky ricochet brooked no argument.
Kilkenny would have made a fine alternative as man of the match – his poise on the ball and intelligent positioning meant Western always had an option as they passed out from the back, and the early goals meant Kilkenny and his co-conspirators could just manage the game to their heart’s delight. The sight of Ben Garuccio and Connor Pain keeping possession in the corner just before half-time with a burst of tika-taka passing epitomised their comfort for so much of the night.
The roar for Aloisi as his side received the trophy spoke to his popularity in the game, and the silverware in his players’ hands confirmed he had success as a coach to marry with that high regard. Nice guys do come first.
