WESTERN Sydney Wanderers coach Marko Rudan has hailed his troops following a “disciplined” 1-0 A-League Men victory over Western United at North Hobart Oval.<\/p>\n
Rudan’s side were forced to defend their 1-0 lead with 10 players for the final 25 minutes, plus an additional seven minutes of injury time, on Saturday after fullback Aidan Simmons was shown a straight red card following a crunching tackle on Kane Vidmar.<\/p>\n
Lachlan Brook netted what proved to be the winner just after the half-hour mark, and while Western United toiled to make the most of their numerical advantage, the Wanderers were able to shut them out.<\/p>\n
“We work on playing against an opposition with a man down, and also if we’re a man down – not that we go out deliberately to do things like that,” Rudan said.<\/p>\n
“There was maybe one opportunity there [for Western United], you’re going to get that, but other than that we were very, very solid. Very disciplined.”<\/p>\n
Western United coach John Aloisi was left to lament costly misses in the first half, before the deadlock was broken.<\/p>\n
Young striker Michael Ruhs failed to capitalise on 21 minutes when he had just Wanderers’ ‘keeper Daniel Margush to beat.<\/p>\n
Soon after, and with Margush out of position, Ruhs fired over from 10 metres following a cut back from Noah Botic.<\/p>\n
“It was a game we should have been up [in] early on,” Aloisi said.<\/p>\n
“We had clear chances again; one-on-ones, open goals. We’re not taking them.<\/p>\n
“It’s the story of our season really, because if you go in front, it’s a different game.<\/p>\n
“Towards the end we were pushing when they went down to 10 men, we just kept on trying and kept on going. But it wasn’t to be.<\/p>\n
“They’re a good side, they’ve got good players going forward but we had the clearer of the opportunities.”<\/p>\n