The big sound from the west got even louder in a performance Mark Rudan believes is a “defining moment” for Western United.
It was the ultimate coronation for the league’s newcomers – finding a way to win despite playing in front of over 20,000 people, against the league’s biggest club and after conceding two goals inside the first ten minutes.
The story of Melbourne Victory dominating another rival began to write itself, after two defensive errors saw the visitors concede two inside the first ten minutes.
But this was not a story Rudan’s men would be part of for much longer.
It naturally started with captain Alessandro Diamanti, who fired his side right back into the contest with a bullet just outside the box.
The Berisha fairy-tale was a bounce off James Donachie away from completion, with the Victory defender getting in the way and knocking the ball into his own net to level the score.
Marvel Stadium then breathed a sigh of relief as Scott McDonald struck the post from 30 yards, but the former Celtic forward would not be kept out for long as he netted the winner six minutes into the second half.
McDonald’s recruitment was one which raised plenty of eyebrows, given his age and having been a popular scapegoat among fans at national team level.
But the 36-year-old let his football do the talking on Saturday night and according to Rudan, continues to be a positive role model off the field as well.
“There’s a lot of questions around the average age of our team,” he said.
“In terms of McDonald…he’s one where I kept asking: ‘Are you sure you want to come here?'”
“He’s come at a really modest wage and I take my hat off to him.
“He’s a great individual he’s a great character, fantastic for the young kids as well and we were really, really decisive when selecting senior players who we wanted to bring to the football club to ensure these young boys coming through learn good behaviours and habits and Macca’s one of them.”
Despite only playing four games, the side’s experience shone especially with their backs against the wall.
While winning a derby is special for any side, Rudan says to do so in such a fashion is reflective of the strong culture the club is building.
“They all stood up, in these big games the big players stand up and create the moments,” he said.
“This’ll be a game I believe in 10 or 15 years’ time we can look back as a football club as quite a defining moment.
“We need to make some statements in the season we don’t just want to be part of the numbers and just be someone that’s just going to partake in the season.
“It’s a testament to what we’re building as a football club, we’ve worked hard on creating values and an identity of who we are and what we represent.
“I think everybody deserves a pat on the back, not just the players out there but my coaching staff, other staff that you don’t see from the gear steward, to our physio everyone involved has bought into this football club.”
As for the Victory, they leave Marvel Stadium for the third time this season without a win.
According to head coach Marco Kurz, the turning point was Diamanti’s 16th minute goal which resulted in a drop in his side’s confidence.
“After we conceded the first goal, we dropped a little too much back and have them too much time to set up in the game and we must speak about what happened between the 20th minute and half time,” he said.
“In the end we had three big chances to score the equaliser off the free-kicks but the biggest point was what happened after their first goal is that we lost a bit of confidence and our behaviour to press them.”
Featured Image: Western United FC
