Western United overcome Roar

Western United defied key absentees to roar back into form with a thrilling 1-0 win over Brisbane Roar.

Western United’s Dylan Pierias celebrates his goal against Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park. Picture: Getty Images

Western United defied key absentees to roar back into form with a thrilling 1-0 win over Brisbane Roar.

Dylan Pierias’s header was the difference as he latched onto the returning Alessandro Diamanti’s cross to seal a much-needed result following two successive defeats.

Diamanti, who missed their loss against Sydney last Tuesday returned from the bench and provided a huge spark to get them over the line.

His coach Mark Rudan was pleased with how his side were able to press and capitalise on Diamanti’s impressive cameo.

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“You look at the changes we made. No Bes (Berisha), no Dia (Diamanti), people we heavily rely on those two so it was up to the two that came in,” Rudan said.

“We were a different team, we can do the things without them like obviously some certain skill sets and quality as you saw with Dia’s assist.

“You saw the way we pressed we were able to press with intent and intensity and I thought that was really good – that was probably the best part about it.

“You know you’ve got weapons in Bes and Dia who can come on and do a job. I thought it was a great team performance when we needed it most.”

Western United could have won by two had it not been for Connor Pain’s goal being disallowed due to a handball by Pierias after an overruling by VAR.

Rudan, who has criticised VAR throughout the season, yet again thought his side got the short-end of the stick as he believes Pierias was protecting his head in the act.

“We have had four-five VARs and not one has gone our way … and that’s the truth,” Rudan said.

“It’s such a tight competition and goal difference can make a big difference that extra goal could be the difference between finishing second, third, fourth, fifth whatever you want to call it … I just don’t understand it.”

Brisbane on the other hand have now gone six games without a win and have fallen out of the top six following last night’s defeat.

Following their blistering start to the season, the Roar have lacked cutting edge up top and have lost that bright spark which made them tick in the early parts of the season.

Brisbane Roar coach Warren Moon believes the result was “fair” as his side were unable to capitalise on their good opportunities in front of goal.

“If you don’t take your chances, you deserve nothing,” Moon said.

“We’ve been this way for a couple weeks now creating chances and we couldn’t take them,

“For us, we’re just going to keep working hard, keep trying to find solutions in the final third to score and right now it’s not happening for us.”