A blistering opening 20 minutes spring-boarded Western United to a comfortable 3-0 win over Central Coast Mariners at Kardinia Park on Sunday afternoon.
Storming ahead thanks to a brace from Besart Berisha and a calamitous own goal from Central Coast defender Kye Rowles, United did it easily as they snapped a two-game losing streak and consolidated their hold on a finals spot.
For the Mariners, who crashed back to earth after their rollercoaster win over Melbourne Victory the week prior, the defeat keeps them second-bottom on the table as the league begins the second half of its season.
Having had a much-needed bye to rest aching and fatigued older bodies, United got themselves ahead after just six minutes after Alessandro Diamanti, spinning away from marker Gianni Stensness, sent in an absolutely gorgeous left-footed cross to the penalty spot that found the head of Besart Berisha and was subsequently sent home.
Though a speculative effort from Milan Duric followed, United kept up the pressure and was 2-0 ahead in the 18th minute Connor Pain stormed down the left and whipped a cutback across the area that, after skittling everyone, found the feet of Josh Risdon.
And while the Socceroo defender’s shot went straight into the shins of Rowles, its subsequent change in direction favoured the hosts as it rocketed into the back of the net.
Three minutes later it was 3-0 and, for all intents and purposes, game over when a dancing run down the left flank from Max Burgess produced another cutback – this time to the top of the six-yard-box – that Berisha, after another unfortunate deflection off Rowles, tucked home.
The party, however, stopped for United just ahead of the half an hour mark when Diamanti went down with an injury and was forced from the field.
Though United would have the ball in the back of the net once more in the 37th minute – Pain’s strike called back for the barest of offside call margins – the home side’s verve departed with the Italian maestro – even if their control of the game remained.
Burgess had a half-chance to make it four just before the half, before Jordan Murray – who was the lone bright spot for the Mariners – almost produced a spectacular bicycle kick after a cross from Tommy Oar was nodded onward by Danny De Silva a minute later.
Panagiotis Kone would hit the bar in the 55th minute after being found inside the area by Pain, before Berisha fluffed his attempt at a hattrick a minute later after being picked out in the area by Burgess.
The Mariners had one final clear chance to get on the scoresheet just past the hour mark when Murray ran onto a ball played into the area that enabled him to tee-up a one-on-one showdown with Filip Kurto.
Though his powerful shot did scoot through the legs of Kurto, the Pole was able to make enough contact to allow him to recover just in time to prevent over the line.

United’s Party Soured
Up 3-0 after just over 2-0 minutes on Sunday afternoon, it appeared as though nothing could spoil the party for United.
That was until the 27th minute, when a seemingly innocuous collision between the talismanic Diamanti and the Mariners’ De Silva left the 36-year-old Italian writhing on the turf and grasping at his foot.
His attempts to get up and walk off the pain done in vain, he was replaced by Dario Jertec on the half an hour mark and taken to the dressing room for treatment. He wouldn’t emerge for the rest of the game.
It marked the first occasion that Diamanti had left the field before the final whistle during his time at United – previously every minute of every game for the A-League expansion side in 2019/20.
Though United didn’t exactly need their captain to see off the Mariners, any extended absence from Diamanti could prove disastrous for Rudan’s side – whose season has already been severely hampered by injury lay-offs to the likes of Panagiotis Kone, Josh Risdon, Aaron Calver and Brendan Hamill.
“I just spoke to him,” Rudan said. "Apparently, something similar happened when he was in Italy - when he was playing for Atalanta against Milan. He loves throwing these big names out. He said he could be, he believes a couple of weeks.
“But we don’t know, it’s too early to tell. I haven’t spoken to our medical staff until we actually get him a scan and find out exactly what the situation is.
“I thought it [De Silva’s challenge] was innocuous. Looking back on the replay I didn’t think it was malicious.”
Now up to the fifth on the table, United will welcome sixth-placed Adelaide United to Whitten Oval on Australia Day next week before they travel to cellar-dwellers Newcastle Jets in round 17. Another bye will then arrive in round 18.
Whether Diamanti is available for either of those crucial fixtures, for Brisbane Roar's visit to Mars Stadium in round 19 or, in a worst-case scenario, even longer will be one of the biggest questions facing United in coming weeks.
Mariners Give Way
Coming off the explosion of emotion that was their madcap, final 10-minute comeback win over Melbourne Victory the week prior, some form of hangover was to be expected by the Mariners on Sunday afternoon.
Yet nobody, least of all Alen Stajčić, would have anticipated the struggles experienced by the Mariners defence in the opening 20 minutes at Kardinia Park – a perfect storm of poor defending facing a blistering attack
While few teams could have properly dealt with Damanti’s magical assist on the opener, the all-too-easy turnover by the Mariners defence to give him the ball and Ziggy Gordon’s failure to properly challenge Berisha in the air were areas to improve on.
Even giving poor Rowles the benefit of the doubt for the two deflections – drives to the byline by Pain and Burgess, albeit the latter’s being a supreme bit of skill, also left much to be desired from the Mariners defence.
“We just got punished for individual errors and some poor defending and that’s what happens when you play against a quality team like they are,” Stajčić said post-game.
“They probably had three actions inside our penalty box in that opening 20 minutes and scored off all three. And we had probably seven or eight actions and didn’t produce the same amount of quality that they had.
“In some respects, they had eight or nine actions and could have scored five and we had forty actions and maybe looked like scoring once or twice.
“The quality in each penalty area was significantly different for each side tonight.
“We still dominate the game in terms of territory and possession and balls into the box but that’s not where the game’s decided.
“The game’s decided in the critical moments and in the critical moments they were without question significantly better and the scoreline reflects that."

Western Wilderness
United’s Whitten Oval home fixture next week may have been organised on very late notice, but it could nonetheless serve as an important litmus test of where the club’s future fortunes lie.
Despite entry to Sunday afternoon’s contest being free of charge – with patrons encouraged to donate to bushfire relief efforts in lieu of an entrance fee – attendance at Kardinia Park was once again poor.
With vast swathes of the stadium’s stands once again cordoned off, the fans that were seated in the Reg Hickey and Brownlow Stand were unable to overcome the cavernous confines of the contest to create a captivating atmosphere.
Though some Geelong-based fans may have voted with their feet on Sunday after the decision to take a home game off them in favour of Melbourne’s west, an even halfway decent crowd at Whitten Oval next week would be a massive improvement.
Should the attendance and atmosphere be considered a success, it would be very hard to argue against United – despite their grandiose claims of representing everywhere west of the Westgate – seeking to move even more of their fixtures out of Geelong and into smaller venues such Whitten Oval or, should the parties be able to work together and reach an agreement, Melbourne Knight’s Sunshine-based football Stadium.
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