Western United defender Alana Cerne has had a fine start to her professional football career, helping the side to two wins from two matches with just one goal conceded.
The Club’s inaugural Liberty A-League Women signing, Cerne played 90 minutes in both fixtures and will be eager to take to the pitch again when the Green and Black travels to face Adelaide United in Round 3.
In her first experience at the elite level, the 19-year-old is relishing her early opportunities on matchday and is eager to continue developing.
“Me personally, I’m loving it. I’ll just take everything as it comes and when I do get the opportunities, I’ll try to perform to my best,” she said.
“For me to develop as a centre-back, I need to play games. I’ll do what I can to get myself on the team sheet each week. Playing alongside Sydney (Cummings) and the rest of the back four, I’m definitely learning a lot.”
Mark Torcaso’s side has been solid defensively in the opening two matches, with that strength underpinned by Cerne and co. in the back four.
United’s No.22 believes the defensive unit is coming together well and will continue to work to shut out opposition attacks this season.
“We’re doing well. The goal we conceded was just a mix up in the box, we didn’t clear our lines properly. We’ll take it and make sure it doesn’t happen next time,” she said.
“As a back four, I think we’re gelling really well. As the year goes on, whoever jumps in and out will just gel together, and it makes it much easier when you’ve got someone like Hillary (Beall) behind you in goals.”
Coming off the high of opening the season with consecutive wins, Cerne said there is a good feeling among the group heading into Round 3.
“Two games in, we’re in a really good head space. We’re all getting along, gelling really well, we’re enjoying our time together and training every day feels good,” she said.
The clash against Adelaide looms as an early top of the table meeting, with the two United’s remaining the only two sides with two wins so far.
Cerne believes the side will be able to stand up to the pressure against quality opposition and show its desire to earn the three points.
“It will be a good game. We’re really resilient and we’ll take everything as it comes. We’ve been speaking about things we can do to just play our best football and get the win,” she said.
“When you’re playing in this league, you want a good contest. Coming in as the underdogs, you would say, we want to win. Adelaide want to win, we want to win more, so it will be a good game.”
This will be United’s final outing before its first bye of the season, after which another big game against Melbourne City awaits.
