Poletti 
Macarthur FC coach Mile Sterjovski. Photo: Poletti/Round Ball Australia
With a new look line-up following a number of off-season changes, the bulls put out a dominant performance, running out 6-1 winners over Perth Glory to start their 2024/25 A-League Men’s campaign.
After a trophy-winning Australia Cup campaign where Macarthur had three consecutive 1-0 victories from the quarter-finals onwards, Mile Sterjovski’s side started with a bang, scoring five first-half goals.
Sterjovski said that he was pleased with his side’s effort, particularly in the first half.
“I thought we played some outstanding football and took most of the chances,” Sterjovski said.
“I thought in the second half we took the foot off the pedal a little bit, but it could have been some of the changes we made, or the scoreline.
“Overall, very pleased to start the season this way.”
The action started in the seventh minute when Luke Bodnar gave the ball away on a back pass to Jake Hollman who shot the ball into Oli Sail, with the rebound being put away by Jed Drew for the opening goal.
Just three minutes later, it would be Drew’s turn to assist Hollman to make it 2-0, which was followed up by goals to Tomislav Uskok (21st minute) and a brace to Marin Jakolis (30th and 45th minute) to make it 5-0 at the break.
Sterjovski put an emphasis on that first half an hour which saw the Bulls score four goals, saying that is exactly how they want to play, before noting that it needs to be replicated for the entire match.
He also emphasised the need for consistency from the squad as the season continues.
“We can’t get carried away, it’s only game one. We need consistency,” Sterjovski said.
“We want to be performing like this week in, week out.
“Mentally we have to be up for every game. It’s not going to be easy. We’ve just got to keep working.”
The action slowed down to start the second half, before Valere Germain scored Macarthur’s sixth in the 61st minute as the Bulls continued to tear apart the Glory’s defence, despite the slow start to the half.
Perth would get one back through Adam Bugarija in the 73rd minute with a goal Sterjovski described as disappointing to concede.
The second half also saw the first minutes in a Macarthur jersey for both Harry Sawyer and Dino Arslanagic as they were substituted on to the field in the 68th minute.
“It was a bit of a tough one to come in at that stage, but I thought they did what they needed to do.
“They got important minutes in their legs and got an important understanding of how we want to do things in our team. [I’m] very pleased for them.”
Macarthur’s squad depth will be a key to success this season, with Bernardo, Daniel Da Silva, and Chris Ikonomidis all still to come back from injuries, with Da Silva being available for selection against the Jets on Friday night.
“It’s going to be a good headache to have [when everyone is available],” Sterjovski said.
“They’re all quality players, and we’ll add the quality to what we already have.”