Western United has a club-record points tally in a single Isuzu UTE A-League Men season, moving to 41 points after an emphatic 6-0 win over Perth Glory.
United accrued 39 points and a fifth-placed finish in its first season in 2019/20, but John Aloisi has surpassed that total just 22 games into his first campaign in charge in the West.
The Green and Black has relished its strong form in 2021/22, with Aloisi’s side challenging at the top of the league for the entire season with a number of important games left to decide the destination of the Premier’s Plate.
The season has seen crucial contributions across the entire Western United squad from back to front, with the likes of Jamie Young and Leo Lacroix impenetrable at the back and Aleksandar Prijovic bringing the goals up front.
The record points total has been achieved with the help of some incredible moments on the pitch that have made Western United one of the most captivating teams in the A-League Men. Here are some of the biggest highlights of this record-breaking run.
Ben Garuccio’s spectacular scorpion kick
Ben Garuccio hadn’t scored a goal in some four years when he arrived at AAMI Park with his Western United teammates to take on Western Sydney Wanderers.
Not only did Garuccio finish off a brilliant team move with an excellent low strike in the first half, he topped it off with a simply outrageous goal in the second period that will be remembered for years to come.
Ghosting into the box and getting on the end of a delicious Aleksandar Prijovic cross, Garuccio flung himself in the air and connected with an spectacular scorpion kick that flew into the net and sent the stadium wild in undoubtedly one of the biggest moments in United’s record-breaking run so far.
The emergence of young talent
While United assembled a squad full of experience and know-how at the top level, the side is also deep with emerging young talent and they have left their mark on the team.
Nicolas Milanovic scored his first goal for the Club in January against Macarthur FC, becoming United’s youngest-ever goal scorer in the process.
Academy product Adisu Bayew narrowly missed out on breaking that record himself when he scored against Brisbane Roar in March, but the No.31 was just 12 days older than Milanovic and had to settle for second on that particular list.
On top of those moments in front of goal, this record-breaking run of points has seen Noah Botic and Christian Theoharous make their Western United debuts, while academy graduates Ben Collins and Rhys Bozinovski have both featured on the bench multiple times each.
Two four-game win streaks
More than half of the current points total came across two separate four-match winning streaks which have both become defining periods in United’s successful campaign.
After losing in Round 1, United won each of the next four games by a score line of 1-0, providing an early indication of the defensive quality and resilience of the playing squad.
After COVID-19 cases and two straight losses seemed to halt the season slightly, United responded with another four wins in a row through the end of February and the start of March, and both these runs have been major highlights on the way to the Green and Black’s record-breaking points haul.
With four games to go, Aloisi and his players will be out to extend that total as far as they can in the hunt for silverware and ahead of the end of the regular season in the A-League Men.
