Western United kicked off the 2020/21 A-League season on Monday night, playing out a 0-0 draw with Adelaide United at GMHBA Stadium.
The visiting team had the momentum early on, controlling possession in their front third.
It wasn’t long however before the Green and Black started to find their groove.
Dylan Pierias created United’s first chance of the match, shooting from the edge of the area to force a strong save from Reds’ keeper James Delianov.
Tomi Juric went closest for the visitors in the first half, dinking the ball over Filip Kurto before Tomoki Imai cleared Western United’s lines.
The second half saw both teams create potential match-winning moments.
Lachie Wales picked out Connor Pain who fired a shot on goal, but the Reds keeper pulled off another strong save.
At the other end, Adelaide would have broken the deadlock if not for a superb goal-line clearance from Western United defender Aaron Calver.
The goalless draw meant each side picked up a point in the round 1 encounter.
Coach Mark Rudan was pleased with the result but said he felt the team was rusty.
“Rusty, both teams. It’s natural, it’s normal,” said Rudan.
“I thought it was a pretty enjoyable game to be honest, it was a pretty open game. Both teams tried to attack when they could.
“I thought it was two points dropped because we were at home and [Adelaide] are a youngish side. We spoke a lot about starting off on the right foot, and making sure that we started the season positively.
“But you look at the positives, it’s one point and we got through unscathed with no injuries.
” But ultimately I feel like it’s two points dropped.”
The official crowd attendance at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong was 5,128 with Covid-19 crowd capacity restrictions still in place in Victoria.
FULL-TIME
Western United 0-0 Adelaide United
NEXT HOME GAME
Western United face Perth Glory on Saturday, 23 January at GMHBA Stadium, Geelong. Kick-off is 5:05 pm.
Click here to purchase tickets.
