Western United’s preparations for the 2022/23 season continued with an intra-club friendly during training at the NEC Hangar on Tuesday afternoon.
A mixture of senior, scholarship and NPL players took part in the 45-minute match as the A-League Men Champions continue to work their way up to fitness ahead of the upcoming campaign.
The competitive season is set to kick off on Wednesday August 3 with an Australia Cup Round of 32 fixture against Melbourne Victory, while the Isuzu UTE A-League Men campaign will begin in October.
With a week of training under the players’ belts, the game was played at a high intensity and gave the players their first match minutes of the pre-season period.
The playing squad was eager to get back on the pitch in a match environment for the first time since the Green and Black became A-League Men Champions in May.
Having returned for pre-season last week after the off-season break, the squad relished the opportunity to extend preparations for competitive fixtures and for another big season.
The training match also presented a great opportunity for a number of the Club’s young and developing players to take part in a fast-paced session with the first team.
A host of Western United’s Academy stars have already been in attendance at training throughout the last week and were given the opportunity to test themselves against their senior counterparts in a match simulation environment.
The match served as ideal priming for those NPL 3 players with a crucial clash against Preston Lions coming up as Anthony Frost and his squad look to push for promotion to NPL 2.
Head Coach John Aloisi continued to put his players through their paces with fitness and ball work either side of the match simulation as that mouth-watering cup tie approaches.
Pre-season tuning will continue with more friendly matches in the coming weeks as the Green and Black gears up towards defending its A-League Men Championship in 2022/23.
