{"id":66081,"date":"2019-12-19T05:58:04","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T18:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=66081"},"modified":"2019-12-18T12:27:16","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T01:27:16","slug":"western-united-ready-for-mars-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Western United ready for Mars attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE A-League\u2019s newest team, Western United are set for their first regular season match in Ballarat as they take on Wellington Phoenix at Mars Stadium on Saturday, 28 December.<\/p>\n<p>Just over a third of the way through their inaugural season, Western Victoria\u2019s premier club are sitting third on the table while star forward Besart Berisha sits equal third on the top goal scorers list.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom our point of view it\u2019s going well, both on and off the field,\u201d said Western United CEO Chris Pehlivanis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re happy with the steady progress but we\u2019re also by no means content. We\u2019ve got a lot to do. We haven\u2019t really put a ceiling to what we can achieve in the first year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Based out of Truganina in Melbourne\u2019s west while a new home ground is built in Tarneit, United have positioned themselves as the team of the western districts.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just playing regular season games in Ballarat with the club focused on building relationships with clubs across the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re super excited to come to Ballarat,\u201d Mr Pehlivanis said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited because we can connect with the region, the communities and the clubs there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also have a great activation where we\u2019re inviting all the Ballarat clubs and all the kids to march on the ground before the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr Pehlivanis described the atmosphere at Western United as welcoming and said the game at Mars Stadium was just a chance to check out the club in Ballarat but also get on at the ground floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are a start up and at the moment a very exciting brand,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is an opportunity to be there from the start. We\u2019re proud of that and encouraging as many people as possible to get behind us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe A-League did a survey and we ranked number two in terms of the atmosphere and at game experience. We\u2019re hopeful Ballarat can turn up in the thousands and we can build something everyone\u2019s proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Western United take on Wellington Phoenix on Saturday, 28 December at Mars Stadium. Gates open at 4pm and kick-off is at 5pm. Tickets cost between $6 and $12 and available from <a href=\"https:\/\/premier.ticketek.com.au\/shows\/Show.aspx?sh=WESTER1220\"><strong>Ticketek<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE A-League\u2019s newest team, Western United are set for their first regular season match in Ballarat as they take on Wellington Phoenix at Mars Stadium on Saturday, 28 December. Just over a third of the way through their inaugural season, Western Victoria\u2019s premier club are sitting third on the table while star forward Besart Berisha [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":66082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-66081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Western United ready for Mars attack - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Western United ready for Mars attack - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE A-League\u2019s newest team, Western United are set for their first regular season match in Ballarat as they take on Wellington Phoenix at Mars Stadium on Saturday, 28 December. Just over a third of the way through their inaugural season, Western Victoria\u2019s premier club are sitting third on the table while star forward Besart Berisha [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/alistairfinlayjournalist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-18T18:58:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/12\/004732-for-web-e1576632418464.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alistair Finlay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alistair Finlay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alistair Finlay\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9bf999ff27982396123a6d7a9abe115b\"},\"headline\":\"Western United ready for Mars attack\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-18T18:58:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":377,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/004732-for-web-e1576632418464.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/\",\"name\":\"Western United ready for Mars attack - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/004732-for-web-e1576632418464.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-18T18:58:04+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/western-united-ready-for-mars-attack\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/004732-for-web-e1576632418464.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/004732-for-web-e1576632418464.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":666,\"caption\":\"Looking mean in green: Gun striker and all-time A-League leading scorer, Besart Berisha, will be on the pitch for Western United\u2019s up coming match at Mars Stadium. 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