Western United remain on the bottom of the A-League Men’s table after a last minute goal denied the club victory against Macarthur on Friday night.
Ben Garuccio got United off to a perfect start with a goal inside the opening couple of minutes but the Bull’s Ulises Davila struck either side of half-time to put Macarthur in the lead
The green and black continued to dominate and finally broke through to equalise through Daniel Penha, and the Brazilian went on to score a stunning second goal to put United back in front.
That goal seemed like it might have been the winner but Macarthur stayed in it and Davila completed his hat-trick in the 90th minute to ensure both sides left with a point.
United coach John Aloisi said while the sides split the points, it felt like a loss.
“Not because we had the lead because we dominated, and we had the majority of the opportunities,” he said.
“We lost our way a little bit in the first half for about 20 minutes, then we gained control again towards the end of the first half, then we had control of the game in the second, they caught us with a bad mistake from us for their second goal.
“But what’s pleasing is that even though the position we were in the boys didn’t drop their heads, they kept going, they kept fighting. Especially in these conditions because we’re not used to these conditions down in Melbourne and they kept on going and deserved to be in front.
“Then we copped a late goal which was unfortunate because it was first of all a handball earlier, that they couldn’t bring back because the play had gone on, but it was a very clear handball from their player and then it hits Davila head and then hits Jacob Tratt’s head and it goes in the top corner.
“At the moment that’s what we’re having to deal with, we just have to keep focussing, keep pushing to the next game now, get the next result and then try to get a win.”
A shining light for United was the brace of Penha who returned to form in a pleasing way for Aloisi.
“Daniel had been out of the game for a long period of time with an ACL injury, it was going to take him time to get to the level we know he can get to and believe he can get to,” Aloisi said.
“I had a bit of a chat to him before the game because he’s feeling that he needs to be the one to take the team forward and I just told him to be calm and enjoy football because he was out of football for a year and to enjoy the game.
“I hope this is a start and he keeps on performing like he did today.”
