Adelaide United 2-0 Western United
by Ben Gilby (7/10/24)
Above: Miley Grigg (looking left) celebrates after scoring her goal against Western United. Photo supplied to Impetus by: Adelaide United.
Adelaide United boss Adrian Stenta hailed a job well done as his team stepped up their preparations for the new A-League Women season with a 2-0 win over Western United in Mildura.
Making the 400km trip to face the 2022/23 Grand Finalists ended with positives both on and off the pitch as the new-look Reds bonded well with the icing on the cake being youngsters Abby Middleton and Miley Grigg scoring the goals.
Stenta was delighted all round, particularly with the opportunity to go into the next month’s new campaign on the back of a victory over a fellow A-League Women side.
“It was a solid hitout, and great to do it against A-League opposition. It was my first time in seven years here that we’ve been able to do that…the performance was a strong one in both halves.”
In terms of aims achieved from the fixture, Stenta reflected: “From a tactical point of view, just increased comfort with the way we’re trying to play this year because it is slightly different in the way we’ve gone about it in the previous season and just (building) a bit of familiarity for the players who are quite new and have just arrived into the squad, so we wanted to tactically get that into speed.
“Off the field, it was the first time we’ve had the whole squad together, so it was good to spend some time together away from home and bond and start to develop the culture in the group.”
Highlighting the influence that his English duo Fiona Worts and Abby Clark had on the encounter, Stenta said: “Fiona worked really hard, was able to do some hard defensive work for us, and she looked dangerous when she got on the ball too and had some opportunities to perhaps score as well, so really happy with the 45 she put in.
“Abby is still trying to find her feet, she hasn’t been here that long. It was good to see her get stuck in and bring a level of physicality into our side which is good to see from a younger player.”
With The Reds’ goals coming from the young duo of Abby Middleton and Miley Grigg, the Adelaide boss underlined the importance he has always placed on developing the next generation of United stars.
“It’s been a real positive that we have some excellent young talent coming through and we were able to make some changes at halftime to get some minutes into some of those young players. for Abby and Miley to get on the scoresheet as well, that’s a bonus and great reward for their effort too.”
Further photos from Adelaide United v Western United in Mildura, supplied to Impetus by Adelaide United
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