United remain positive ahead of return to John Cain Arena

Despite falling just short against the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday afternoon, Melbourne United are still taking positives away from their overtime effort.

Speaking after the game, Captain Chris Goulding said he was encouraged by United’s depth and spread contributions.

“Some guys stepped up, that’s the team we’ve built,” he continued.

“In big moments different guys step up and stamp their authority on the game. That three from (Shea Ili) in the corner is a game-winner… he just stepped into it and shot it confidently, which is what he does on so many occasions, so I was so happy for him when he made that.

“Jo (Lual-Acuil Jr, who scored an equal career-high 23 points) as well, Jack White was making some big plays, so there’s positives on that front.”

Head Coach Dean Vickerman echoed his captain, adding his satisfaction with how his team responded to adversity.

“Caleb (Agada) had massive foul trouble… I thought (Brad) Newley and Shea Ili covered those areas, along with (Jack White) moving down to the three-spot.

“There’s always those parts of the game where you say ‘hey, those things haven’t happened to us too much, how do we deal with it?’ and I thought in the second half we dealt with a lot of those things pretty well.”

Ever the optimist, Vickerman has his eyes firmly set to February 6, when United returns home to play in front of their home fans for the first time in 49 days.

“We now get an opportunity to go home and play in front of our fans and we’re super looking forward to that.”

Melbourne will host the Tasmania JackJumpers on Sunday 6 February from 3pm at John Cain Arena, featuring a special half-time live performance from Tones And I.

Tickets are available here, and five-game memberships remain for sale here.