By Jim Morton
November 9th 2009 @ 6:59am
Coast win just the tonic for sleepless Culina
Socceroos linchpin Jason Culina can rest easy once more. Culina admitted he has struggled to sleep in the last fortnight due to Gold Coast United’s on- and off-field woes which had pundits freshly questioning his return to Australia from PSV Eindhoven.
But a swift return to form to star in United’s pressure-relieving 1-0 victory over A-League frontrunners Sydney FC has their skipper buoyed about the expansion club’s future once again.
Culina set up the game’s solitary goal with a pin-point cross to striker Shane Smeltz who headed home his 11th goal of the season – just one off his joint season record of 12.
The goal was akin to the release of a pressure valve with Culina immediately letting out his pent-up frustrations knocking over advertising hoardings in celebration.
Owner Clive Palmer’s controversial crowd cap, abandoned before Saturday night’s encounter, which drew 5,364, and upset losses to Wellington and North Queensland had certainly taken their toll on the classy midfielder.
“I’ve had some sleepless nights in the last couple of weeks,” Culina said.
“But when you sit down and think about it, like I did, we are new club, it’s half-way through the season and we are sitting third on the ladder.
“Everything seemed to be doom and gloom but we’re sitting third on the ladder — for a new club it’s not too bad.”
Criticised for trying to do too much as the Coast fell 6-0 to the Phoenix and 2-0 to the Fury, Culina was more measured in a more attacking role at Skilled Park.
“I played a lot more forward today and I enjoy going forward and I think the team needs me to go forward,” he said.
The Coast played far more conservatively, and with more physicality, stepping away from the smooth passing game which took the competition by storm in the first six weeks.
“We can’t play every game to try and play like Barcelona because sometimes you win 5-0 and sometimes you lose 6-0,” coach Miron Bleiberg said.
“So we added a bit of mongrel to our game and went for every second ball and learned from the Fury from last week and learned from Wellington.”
United’s dominant victory leaves them just two points behind Sydney (25) and one behind Melbourne (24) heading into the competition’s mid-season break.
“To tell you the truth I still haven’t recovered from the loss against the Fury,” Bleiberg said. “It was completely, completely unnecessary.
“(But) we are on top of the ladder with two giants of the A-League with Melbourne and Sydney and we are the new kids and still learning about ourselves.”
Sydney were never able to recover from the early loss of skipper Steve Corica to a hamstring twinge which he believes won’t prevent him returning in their next game in Perth on November 22.
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K B said | November 9th 2009 @ 9:47am | Report comment
Jason Culina has shown great leadership and class, on and off the field, a very admirable role model, for the football club… He has been a fine choice as the first marque and captain for the GCU FC inaugural season… Last Saturday night’s performance by Jason was one of real character, a real champion, who led the team by example…
It has been no secret that Gold Coast have struggled in the past couple of weeks, however, now that the cost of attending football matches at Skilled Park have dropped, the football supporters of the GC are now ready to come and support the club to make up for the lost ground…
Still the one noticeably absentee, Adama Traore, with his exhilarating runs down the left flank have been sorely missed for the past three weeks or so… I hope he will be in the side for the next home game on the Gold Coast…
The groundsmen still need to bring the surface up to scratch at Skilled Park; they need to get working fast to fix the pitch that has been a disgrace so far, the ball bubbling, at crucial moments during a game, (for both teams) detracting from what has been the hallmark of the GCUFC’s Barca style football…
Groundsmen please fix the playing surface..!
~~~~~~~
KB