United made five changes to the XI that lost 3-1 to Wellington Phoenix in round 12 ahead of the meeting with their local rivals: Aaron Calver and Brandon Hamill absent thanks to injuries, Max Burgess and Dylan Pierias shifted to the bench and Scott McDonald, according to reports from The World Game, due to an imminent departure from the club. 

With Josh Risdon, Ersan Gülüm and Panagiotis Kone already absent, it meant that A-League newcomers were forced to improvise; shifting from their traditional back five to a back four and deploying Seb Pasquali – who made his first-ever appearance in a Western United shirt – at right back.

Valentino Yuel and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos both started their first games for the club in advanced positions and, following their second-half introductions, Thiel Iradukunda and Josh Cavallo made their A-League debuts.

Nonetheless, United’s first half, regardless of the chopping and changing, still left much to be desired.

Multiple instances of suspect defending gifted Jamie Maclaren a first-half brace, sandwiched around Adrain Luna taking advantage of some sloppy marking to ghost through the United lines to fire a volley home, as City took a 3-0 lead into the dressing rooms at half time.

United did show some faint signs of life in the second half, winning and converting two penalties to once again shine a spotlight on City’s potential mental fragility in the final 15, but, ultimately, the damage had been done.

“It was a really slow start from us,” Durante told FTBL post-game. “We looked lethargic, making sloppy passes and we couldn’t get in the game for whatever reason.

“The coach at halftime basically said get out there and show a bit of fight and don’t embarrass yourselves.

"I thought we did that, I thought we played a lot better, we got our goals, put them under a lot of pressure towards the end and had that belief that maybe we could punch an equaliser but it wasn’t to be.

“We had a lot of new faces in the squad and the heat, it was quite difficult with the fires and the air conditions but we had Seb Pasquali play his first game for the year, Valentino Yuel upfront, Jerry Skotadis, we’ve got a lot of young players in this game that haven’t had a lot of game time.

“I thought they did really well, to be fair, this is definitely not blaming them but to be consistent and to play well consistently I think we need the same guys on the pitch as much as possible.

“I think our strong start [to the 2019/20 season] was because we had the same XI basically every week for the opening month. Then injuries to key players… Brendan Hammill was playing really well, [Aaron] Calver playing really well, Josh Risdon.

“Really good players, experienced players getting injured at crucial times for us. Ersan Gülüm, [Panagiotis] Kone, they’re our main guys.

“So, it was always going to be difficult. But I think the most positive thing tonight was that we showed a bit of fight and got something positive at the end.”

United will enjoy their first bye of the season next week, some much-needed respite as they look to take stock and allow injured and veteran bodies to recuperate.

However, coming off two-straight defeats and the congested nature of the A-League ladder likely meaning they will likely fall out of the top-six by the time they return to action, there are likely challenging times ahead in Tarneit – especially if the situation surrounding McDonald is allowed to fester.

“It’s definitely a strong squad,” Durante said when asked about the mood in the camp. “We’ve got so many strong leaders inside the squad. I think when you’re winning everything’s a lot easier but obviously some poor results have made it difficult.

“It’s up to us senior players to make sure that everyone is together and everyone stays united here.

“We’ve got a great squad here, I’m happy to be here, I think we’ve got some incredible players, some very exciting young players.

“Once we get a full complement of players back and some key players the only way is up for us.”