Birthday joy for Aloisi as Western go top

WESTERN United have given coach John Aloisi a forty-sixth birthday to remember, surviving a Western Sydney Wanderers onslaught to escape with a 1-0 win and return to the top of the A-League Men table.

In securing his side’s sixth 1-0 win of the campaign, Aleksandar Prijovic’s 29th-minute goal at CommBank Stadium also ensured that United’s past didn’t come back to haunt them with new Wanderers boss Mark Rudan previously their foundation coach club before departing last season.

Missing out on the opportunity to record back-to-back wins, Rudan’s new team remains eighth on the ALM table, with three of the four sides below them retaining two games in hand.

Aloisi isn’t sure why his side keeps winning games 1-0.

But given that his side’s latest escape against Western Sydney Wanderers sent them back to the top of the table, he’s not complaining.

“I can’t give you a reason why we are winning one-nil all the time but we’re happy that we’re hard to beat,” Aloisi said.

“That’s what we’ve mentioned throughout the season and throughout pre-season.

“We will score goals and make sure the opposition don’t find it easy to break through us. And they are finding it tough.”

Jack Rodwell and Tomer Hemed had early chances for the hosts but neither high-profile foreigner could find the target after being picked out in the box.

The visitors duly made them pay just before the half-hour mark when Steven Lustica seized upon the Wanderers’ attempt to clear a cross and headed the ball back into the area for Prijovic to convert.

Falling behind at any time in the ALM is less than ideal, but against the league’s resident 1-0 specialists, among the finest in the league in defending from a winning position, it is particularly troublesome, as the Wanderers discovered.

Neither long-range efforts from Keanu Baccus nor Keijiro Ogawa could beat United keeper Jamie Young as the half progressed, and Ogawa should have scored in the 59th minute when he was sprung in behind United’s lines only to see his effort bounce off the post.

Wanderers ended up outshooting their rivals 16 to seven, but could only put one shot on target.

“It was one-way traffic,” Rudan said. “Even the opportunities that they had were through our mistakes, which we need to improve on.

“In terms of the intensity, the possession, the position that led to chances that led to shots … we need to hit the target. That’s the difference.”

The win was the second time in less than a week Western United claimed top spot on the ALM table after drawing 2-2 with the Macarthur Bulls the pervious Tuesday.

The Bulls hadn’t played since Boxing Day, but showed tremendous resolve to rally from a 2-0 deficit to earn a 2-2 draw at Campbelltown Stadium.

Aloisi made six changes to his starting side for the game with star Italian import Alessandro Diamanti among those rested.

Some of United’s youngsters took advantage of their opportunity, with 21-year-old Nicolas Milanovic marking his first A League Men start with his first goal.

– BY JOEY LYNCH/ AAP