- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
A showdown between Socceroos teammates Jason Culina and Mark Schwarzer fizzled but cocky A-League newcomers Gold Coast United have fired to upset English Premier League outfit Fulham 2-1 at Skilled Park.
All eyes were on Gold Coast skipper Culina’s duel with Fulham keeper Schwarzer on Wednesday night.
But that became a sub-plot as United’s Milson (80th minute) and Shane Smeltz (86th) sealed an unlikely victory in front of 10,336 fans.
Schwarzer only had to contend with a couple of long range efforts from Culina before being replaced by Pascal Zuberbuhler after the main break.
Then the fireworks began.
Milson finished off lead-up work by Culina and Smeltz to level the scores at 1-1 in the 80th.
Kiwi international Smeltz — who rued several earlier chances — then delivered the killer blow when he pulled the trigger off a corner six minutes later.
Big-talking Gold Coast had claimed they wanted to go through undefeated on their way to claiming the A-League title on season debut in 2009-10.
But at first the A-League’s self-proclaimed answer to Manchester United had no reply to an actual English Premier League side with Fulham leading 1-0 at halftime thanks to skipper Danny Murphy (16th).
It marked the first goal the Gold Coast had conceded in 11 official pre-season games.
However, the injection of former Brisbane Roar livewire Tahj Minniecon in the second half appeared to spark the hosts.
Schwarzer appeared only for the first half in his first game back for Fulham since Socceroos duty, hardly giving him enough time for a real showdown with Culina.
Certainly the 45 minutes they spent staring down each other hardly lived up to the pre-match guff.
Schwarzer admitted it had been a “slight concern” that Culina had opted to leave Holland and play in the “lesser” A-League the season before next year’s World Cup.
A clearly unimpressed Culina replied by saying it was no “big deal” playing for Fulham, claiming he would rather Manchester United or Arsenal.
A strong Fulham squad arrived for their Down Under tour full of confidence after finishing seventh in the Premier League, earning a spot in the Europa League qualifiers starting later this month.
Roy Hodgson’s Cottagers also take on Melbourne and Perth Glory in Australia.
Fulham drew first blood through ex-England international Murphy with a 25-metre free kick that curled into the top left corner.
United’s Steve Pantelidis was booked for an ugly, late tackle in the 38th minute on Ki Hyeon Seol who required treatment on the ground for several minutes.
Right on halftime, the Gold Coast were gifted a chance to draw level when Fulham’s Fredik Stoor’s poor back pass found United’s Joel Porter clear but he could only meekly tap the ball into Schwarzer.
The club’s billionaire owner Clive Palmer and extrovert coach Miron Bleiberg were very excited about the result but Culina described it as “just a friendly match”.
“We won it but there are five weeks to go in our preparation,” he said.
“We have to continue that form in our first (A-League) game (in August). Fulham is only early in their preparation.
“It’s a great result for us but we can’t get too carried away.”
After calming down, Bleiberg conceded that his side would not have beaten Fulham in three weeks.
“I would swap the win tonight for any in the future A-League,” Bleiberg said.
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson said he was pleased with his underdone team’s effort after just four days of training.
“As far as we are concerned it was a very good workout for the first game of the season,” he said.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.