Western United will face off against Adelaide United once again this Friday night, resuming hostilities with one of the side’s fiercest foes across the last two seasons.
Over four meetings with the Reds since the Club’s inaugural season, United has engaged in some of its tightest battles on the pitch, with everything from goal gluts to red cards and controversy along the way.
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The first time the two United’s locked horns was arguably the most entertaining, with a seven-goal thriller going the way of Adelaide at Whitten Oval.
The Reds shot out to a 3-1 lead inside 20 minutes, but Besart Berisha’s second goal followed by a gorgeous Alessandro Diamanti curler in the second half had the Green and Black in the contest.
But Adelaide would steal it late on, with Nathan Konstandopoulos scoring from range to give the visitors the early upper hand in the head-to-head battle.
But United would avenge that result in some style just a couple of months later with an emphatic 5-1 win at Coopers Stadium.
Western United won big against Adelaide in 2020
Riley McGree cancelled out Berisha’s opener in the 25th minute, but an onslaught of goals either side of the half-time break gave United a commanding position in the match.
That was incidentally the last match of the 2019/20 season before it was shut down and resumed in a hub in July 2020, and it was the second of a run of six wins in the final eight games of Western United’s season that saw the Green and Black qualify for the finals.
The following two games have both failed to produce any goals but the drama has still been consistent and frequent.
A 0-0 draw at GMHBA Stadium opened the 2020/21 season but it could have ended with a very different scoreline. Tomoki Imai and Aaron Calver both had to clear chances off the goal line to preserve United’s clean sheet, while a Diamanti corner very nearly went straight in after a bizarre deflection between James Delianov and Jordan Elsey.
The second goalless draw against Adelaide last season was a frustrating one for Western United. Away from home, United had two goals disallowed, one for handball and one for the smallest of offside margins, while both sides saw a man sent off in a heated contest.
This will be the first meeting between the two sides this season and the first-ever at AAMI Park, with United gunning for a fourth win in a row, while Adelaide is yet to claim a victory so far. Secure your tickets now.
