Sydney and the Gold Coast both missed gilt-edged chances as their A-League grudge match at Skilled Park ended in a 0-0 draw in front of a paltry crowd of less than 3000.
Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg had made it clear before the clash he wanted redemption for United’s 3-2 loss in Sydney in round five.
Bleiberg was hit with a $5000 fine when he suggested the referee that day had favoured Sydney who snatched a win with a 93rd-minute strike.
This time it was referee Ben Williams’ turn to be the centre of attention.
Williams had his hand in his pocket as much as he had his whistle in his mouth, dishing out nine yellow cards – seven of them to Sydney players.
Frustrations and emotions boiled over in the 81st minute when Williams booked Michael Beauchamp and Gold Coast rival James Brown from a confrontation where players from both sides charged to their assistance.
Gold Coast forward Maceo Rigters should have scored in the 44th minute after a beautiful ball from Ben Halloran left him with only goalkeeper Liam Ready to beat.
However, his duffed attempt was not nearly as bad as that by Sydney’s Karol Kisel who missed from inside the six-yard box following a lovely cross from Shannon Cole.
Heavy rain swept across Skilled Park 30 minutes before kick off but the pitch was barely affected.
The second smallest crowd of the season, 2984, had little to cheer in the first half but the excitement picked up considerably in the final 30 minutes when both sides went all out in attack.
Reddy had a strong game for Sydney FC with a number of big saves.
His rival Glen Moss was also very solid, tipping a Kisel 30-metre missile over the bar eight minutes into the second half.
Gold Coast were coming off a run of five straight losses and are anchored to the bottom of the A-League table.
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December 12th 2011 @ 8:30am
West syd said | December 12th 2011 @ 8:30am | Report comment
for a crowd of 3000 Gold coast should find a local park, tie a rope around its perimeter and this could be there homeground, imagine the atmosphere there, plus would save Clive on stadium rental!
December 12th 2011 @ 12:05pm
PeterK said | December 12th 2011 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
Just need some TV lighting there though?
The TV requirements do add a lot to club expenses, and also severely limit the decisions a club can make, but I guess we need the TV coverage!
These boutique stadia people talk about would still have to have TV facilities of course.
December 12th 2011 @ 9:36am
Luke said | December 12th 2011 @ 9:36am | Report comment
I wonder if the poor crowds at the Gold Coast are caused by apathy towards football up on the Gold Coast or a dislike of Clive Palmer’s running of the club.
AFL and NRL pull decent crowds up there, but GCU really struggle even with cheap tickets.
December 12th 2011 @ 9:36am
elZorro16 said | December 12th 2011 @ 9:36am | Report comment
Having been to Skilled Park a couple years ago on a Melbourne Victory away trip, i found the general mood on the Gold Coast about their team to be of non-existence. With a smattering of yellow amongst the blue seats of a stadium which lets face it , only gets filled a few games a year by the Titans, the feeling to me was there was no real spirit or sence of occasion when their team came out to play.
It’s 15-20 minutes away from the main strip, tucked in a suburb which even though had a train station right next to the stadium, had a feeling of being parked in the middle of nowhere. With most of the other grounds (SFS, Hindmarsh,Perth Oval, AAMI and Etihad) being centrally based plays a huge part in not only drawing non-hardcore fans to the game but creating a sense of theatre. As much as Clive and the team want to play in a smaller stadium. This isn’t going to happen. Why would the Queensland Government spend roughly $150 million on a stadium to be used for half the year?
December 12th 2011 @ 10:13am
striker said | December 12th 2011 @ 10:13am | Report comment
This cub is a disgrace the sooner they go the better should have kept nth queensland, i blame ffa there the ones that rushed for expansion without doing any research.
December 12th 2011 @ 12:13pm
PeterK said | December 12th 2011 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
NQ crowds (especially towards “the end”) were quite small too — BUT they were comparatively very large as a percentage of local population.
I think NQ even more than anywhere else was/is a place where the Community Ownership model is essential — if not enough “owners” are found, then it should not be allowed back in, but if enough are found, then it should be. How much financial support is enough? Does anyone know how much is the average turnover at our current 10 clubs?