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Western United want A-League Men derbies in Tarneit

3 minute read

Western United had to play their local A-League Men derby against Melbourne City at AAMI Park but coach John Aloisi hopes future games can be in Tarneit.

Coach John Aloisi hopes Western United will be able to play future local derbies at Ironbark Fields after their first bid to face Melbourne City at their new home was knocked back.

United suffered a 1-0 loss to crosstown City at AAMI Park on Monday night.

AAP understands United lobbied hard to play the game in Tarneit but it was knocked back by the Australian Professional Leagues amid police concerns over security.

United's home game against Victory on December 1 will also be held at AAMI Park.

When asked if he would have liked Monday's game to have been played in Tarneit, Aloisi said: ""Yes, definitely. 

"Hopefully, in the future, we'll be in Tarneit. We weren't able to play there for a few reasons. 

"I think the APL weren't quite, I wouldn't say happy, but we didn't quite pass the criteria to play this game because it's another Melbourne side. 

"So the Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory games will be here, but hopefully for next season we're at a level that we can play all our games in Tarneit."

Ironbark Fields' capacity is around 4000 and would have been packed out by the relatively small crowd at AAMI Park.

The venue was only locked in on October 28, giving United a limited lead-in for ticket sales.

"I thought the crowd made some good noise tonight. I thought it was a pretty good turnout, considering we were only able to advertise that were playing here five days ago.

"I thought it was a good turnout and yeah, if we had that in Tarneit, it would have given us another lift. 

"But look, there's no excuse - we played here. We like playing here."

United are yet to claim a win, with two draws and a loss to date, but Aloisi was confident that wasn't far away for his young team.

They next head to Adelaide, off a tight turnaround, for Saturday's clash with the Reds at Coopers Stadium.

"We hopefully get Benny Garuccio back as well for Adelaide and then we'll go again," he said.

"We know they're a good side there. It's always nice to play at Coopers, and hopefully there'll be a good crowd and we can put on the performance and get the win that we want."

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