United claim comfortable victory, but importantly re-establish brand

WESTERN United continued its preparations for the 2020/21 A-League season with a 9-0 friendly win over North Geelong Warriors at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday.

While coming away with a comprehensive victory was rewarding from an on-field perspective, the true benefits were reaped over a 48-hour period where the club engrossed itself in the community through a number of events in the region.

Western United CEO Chris Pehlivanis spoke of the importance building its brand in the region held, and that can only be built by having an active presence.

“The whole week was fantastic to be down there,” Mr Pehlivanis said.

“It’s real important for us to grow our brand in the region.

“Ultimately, it was really good to re-establish ourselves in the area and we look forward to providing more of that over summer in the Geelong region.”

On Saturday, a crowd of 500, the maximum currently allowed, watched United and the Warriors lock horns.

Pehlivanis said tickets for the friendly were quickly snapped up and it was now about working towards selling out its A-League home and away season opener against Adelaide United at GMHBA Stadium on December 28, where it will be able to hold a 25 per cent crowd capacity.

Leading into the match, United will once again be in the area, running a range of activities including school holiday clinics.

United will travel to Ballarat for a friendly against Melbourne City while it will also have a match in Brisbane to round-out the club’s preparations.

Western United’s season opener at GMHBA Stadium is one of three or four matches – the club still in negotiations – it will play in Geelong.

On Saturday, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos found the back of the net twice, as did Stefan Zinni and Lachie Wales while Dylan Pierias, Steven Lustica and Alex Baker all scored one goal in a fruitful day for United.