Western United coach John Aloisi has apologised to the club's fans after his team produced their "worst" A-League Men effort in years, going down to Central Coast 4-0.
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The Mariners led 3-0 by half-time of Friday night's match at Gosford after early headers from central defenders Dan Hall and Brian Kaltak were complemented by a beautiful curling effort from Marco Tulio.
Substitute Alou Kuol added more pain when he tapped home the Mariners' fourth goal in the 82nd minute after United fail to clear a corner.
United have now lost six consecutive games since opening their season with a 2-1 win over Melbourne City.
The disastrous run of results have left them dead last on the table with just three points from seven games.
It's heaped huge pressure on Aloisi, who is in his third year in charge and didn't hold back when analysing the latest loss.
"Worst performance since I've been at the football club," Aloisi told Paramount.
"The basics of football is to compete, and we didn't compete from the very start.
"I've got no excuses about the result. We all have to have a good look at ourselves, because that wasn't good enough.
"The other games we lost we deserved more, but not tonight.
"I have to apologise to our supporters who did travel and those who watched it at home, because that wasn't good enough.
"The performance we put on tonight was unacceptable."
Central Coast, who opened their title defence with four straight losses, have moved up to seventh spot after posting two wins and a draw from their past three matches.
United entered Friday night's game in Gosford having conceded a league-high three goals from corners this season.
That figure rose to five by the 24-minute mark.
Hall started the carnage by jumping high to score a powerful header in the 11th minute.
Kaltak made it 2-0 in somewhat comical fashion when he spun while in the air to score a header with the back of his head.
Damningly for United, the only two players competing for that header were Mariners.
The Mariners continued to create good chances, and United cracked again in the 44th minute when Tulio unleashed a long-range shot that bounced in off the crossbar and upright.
Kuol came off the bench to add the icing on the cake.
The result marks the first time Aloisi has lost six games in a row as coach.
Aloisi guided United to the 2021-22 title, but they finished seventh last season and are in grave danger of missing the finals again this campaign.
United have scored just one goal and conceded a whopping 15 during their six-match losing run.
The way they were sliced open time and again by Central Coast was damning.
The Mariners would have scored even more goals if it wasn't for some sharp saves from United goalkeeper Tom Heward-Belle.
Australian Associated Press
