In Alessandro Diamanti, Panagiotis Kone, Dario Jertec and company, Western United FC have some of the best ball-players in the Hyundai A-League.
But the competition newcomers proved they don’t need to keep a whole lot of the ball to have success.
That was certainly the case in their hard-fought – and at times feisty – 2-0 win over Brisbane Roar on Friday night.
Mark Rudan’s troops battled their way to victory despite having just 28.3% of possession over the 90 minutes.
Since Opta started recording data in the 2012/13 Season, that’s the fourth lowest amount a team has had while still managing to earn a win.
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Central Coast Mariners lead the way in that category, also beating Roar in the 2013/14 Season despite having just 25.2% possession.
Brisbane had just 27.7% when they beat Adelaide United in 2017/18, while Roar were also on the end of another defeat in the 2013/14 campaign against the Jets who had 28.1% possession.
So United joined a select group with their resilient and backs-to-the-wall display at Suncorp Stadium in Round 10.
When you think that Roar also had more than 400 passes more than United (691 to 283) and fired off 20 shots to the visitors’ six, it boggles the mind how Rudan’s men came away with all three points.
But United have shown regularly in their short existence they have the ability to grind out results without needing the lion’s share of the ball.
Shot map: Brisbane Roar 0-2 Western United
Berisha haunts his former club…again!
Still on United and there’s no slowing down Besart Berisha when it comes to scoring goals.
For the second week in a row (after his brace against Melbourne Victory last weekend) Berisha scored against one of his former clubs, adding the second in his side’s 2-0 win over Roar.
It maintains Berisha’s excellent record of exacting the best form of revenge on his ex-employers…by finding the back of the net.
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In 22 matches against his former clubs, Berisha has scored 15 goals – with eight of those against Victory (in nine games) and seven against Roar (13 games).
Berisha’s tally has him third on the all-time list behind two New Zealand internationals in Kosta Barbarouses and Shane Smeltz.
Barbarouses has scored a total of 26 goals against clubs he has played for in the past in Melbourne Victory, Brisbane Roar, Wellington Phoenix and his current employers Sydney FC.
Smeltz’s best returns have come when he has faced Perth Glory (10 goals) and Sydney FC (eight goals).
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6115531647001
Wanderers closing in on unwanted record
It’s not a good time to be associated with Western Sydney Wanderers’ Hyundai A-League side, whether you’re a player, fan or coach Markus Babbel.
After leading the competition after four rounds, the Wanderers are now seventh on the back of five straight defeats.
The horror run is the club’s equal second longest losing streak. No wonder Babbel is feeling the heat.
If the Wanderers are again on the wrong end of the result in Friday night’s clash against Western United, it would equal the club’s longest-ever losing streak of six matches, which came last season, also under Babbel.
Glory’s defenders delivering in attack
Perth Glory’s defence have been getting plenty of praise for back-to-back clean sheets but they have also been getting the job done at the other end.
Both goals in Saturday night’s 2-0 win over the Wanderers were scored by central defenders in Gregory Wüthrich and Alex Grant.
With Tomislav Mrcela scoring the final goal in their win over Melbourne City a week earlier, Glory’s defenders have scored the club’s last three goals.
Only twice in Hyundai A-League history has a team had more than three consecutive goals scored by defenders.
Adelaide United hold the record for most consecutive goals scored by defenders with five, coming back in the 2008/09 Season.
In that run, central defender Sasa Ognenovski (three goals) and left-back Cassio (two goals) scored consecutive goals across three Hyundai A-League matches.
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https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6115830525001
