Western United’s pre-season continued in Ballarat on Saturday, clashing with Melbourne City at Morshead Park Stadium.
City opened the scoring inside 10 minutes, when a defensive error was pounced on by Jamie Maclaren, who gave Filip Kurto no chance with a solid strike.
City has their second 10 minutes later, with another unstoppable effort, this time from Aiden O’Neill.
The ball fell to the City midfielder, whose world-class shot found the top corner.
United got back into the match just prior to half-time through Connor Pain.
With his back to goal, Lachie Wales found Pain, who calmly tucked it away into the bottom corner.
City controlled the first 20 minutes of the second half and eventually restored their two-goal lead.
Maclaren was played in behind the United defence, before nabbing his brace from the six-yard box.
With 10 minutes remaining, United again cut the lead to a goal.
Josh Cavallo made an instant impact off the bench, as his cross was spilled by City keeper Matt Sutton, allowing Apostolos Stamatelopoulos to tap home an open goal.
United pushed for an equaliser but City held out for a 3-2 win.
FULL-TIME
Western United 2 (Pain, Stamatelopoulos)
Melbourne City 3 (Maclaren x2, O’Neill)
