More proof Besart Berisha is A-League’s greatest striker

Two goals in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Macarthur catapulted Besart Berisha into second on the all-time Australian national league goal charts.

Western United’s Besart Berisha after scoring against Macarthur FC at Mars Stadium in Ballarat. Picture: Getty Images

Besart Berisha is a special talent.

Since arriving in Australia 10 years ago, the 35-year-old has been terrorising defences and is arguably the A-League’s greatest ever striker.

From Brisbane, to Melbourne and now to Western United – wherever he has gone, the goals have followed and the success too.

His two goals in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Macarthur catapulted Berisha into second on the all-time Australian national league goal charts – leapfrogging Rod Brown with 138 goals.

“I’m really proud of Bes,” his head coach Mark Rudan told reporters post-game.

“He has got fantastic status in this country but he needs to keep going and he will because he’d done it in his career.

“He has a lot of self-belief; a lot of self-confidence and he wants to be the best he can be.”

Rudan went on to label the performance as being “tactically perfect” and believes his side learned their lesson after the disappointing defeat against Central Coast two weeks prior.

“Every game we have been ahead, particularly two games that we’ve lost, we’ve been ahead in those two games,” Rudan said.

“It was really good to see for those last 30 minutes that we were able to continue to push forward and apply the kind of football that we want to play so I was very pleased.”

The win was Western’s second of the season and a much-needed one which has helped to recharge their campaign.

“We are only six games in but we needed the win,” Rudan said.

“We don’t pressure the players into making that we have to win, it’s never the case it’s about believing in the process and making sure that the mentality is right and it was superb.”

Macarthur on the other hand were brought back down to Earth after two straight wins but will rue missed chances when the game was still in the balance.

“I thought we started OK,” Macarthur coach Ante Milicic said.

“They were difficult to break down in the initial stages of the first-half and once they went a goal up and then I think the second one before halftime really hurt us,

“In saying that, we started the second-half really well and we had a couple chances but they’re a difficult team to get past and direct in transition.”

The loss also means a missed chance to close in on first-placed Central Coast Mariners who lost 3-2 on Friday night.

However, Milicic believes now is not the right time to be looking at the table as teams get back to full fitness and teams make up games in hand.

“I wouldn’t look at the ladder too much to be honest because it’s unrealistic,” Milicic said.

“A lot of players are getting back to full fitness and getting back from injuries when you have a look at everyone’s squad size,

“For us, it’s about right where I expect us to be, it’s more about getting our playing style across and how quickly we can execute that.”

NCA Newswire