Gold Coast's Steve Pantelidis (right) raises his arms as Central Coast's Matthew Simon (left) lifts Pantelisid's legs during the round 17, A-League match between Gold Coast United and the Central Coast Mariners at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Every team has been scratching around, looking for a way to break down the Central Coast Mariners, who up until Saturday night’s 2-1 loss to Gold Coast had only conceded nine goals in 16 games.
After a disastrous end to season four and an equally porous ACL campaign, Lawrie McKinna’s men have built their success this season from the back. They have set the stall deep, been defending in numbers, and scrabbling beautifully.
Alex Wilkinson, after a poor season four, has been living up to the hype that has surrounded him over past few years. Dean Heffernan has been in career best form, while Nigel Boogaard has seamlessly been switching between right back and central defence, as required.
Paul Doig, when he has been fit, has looked a leader.
In front of them the midfield and front men have been working the house down, defending from the front by disrupting the opposition high up the pitch, and never allowing opponents to build up any passing momentum.
Meanwhile, in the last line, Danny Vukovic is almost back to the form he was showing prior to that grand final indiscretion.
The yellow and blue brick wall has just about been impenetrable, evidenced by a clean sheet every two games. Some platform.
However, on Saturday, Gold Coast United may well have found the way to unlock the door, demonstrating, in a breathtaking second half display, that the Mariners might be susceptible to a rapid counter attack.
Twice in the second half Gold Coast launched rapid raids on the Mariners’ goal, and on both occasions it came as they were defending Mariners set pieces deep in their own half.
On each occasions they got numbers forward very quickly and exposed a retreating Mariners rearguard. Danny Vukovic and Co. had a flood of yellow shirts bearing down on their goal, and just couldn’t deal with it, despite the keeper’s efforts.
The first occasion resulted in a disallowed goal after Shane Smeltz tucked away a neat Zenon Caravella first time ball, only to be deemed offside.
Of course replays proved the decision was incorrect, with Heffernan, sitting on the six yard box, playing Smeltz on-side. Interestingly, a replay of this incident appeared inside the stadium, triggering a chorus of boos around Skilled Park.
Was this in contravention of the league’s rules? Certainly you don’t see replays in most A-League stadiums.
Was this the latest piece of defiance from the new club, who have been running a bit of a battle with FFA this season? Perhaps that’s a subject for another day.
But back to the point of this piece. The disallowed goal came after a lightning attack involving Smeltz, Jason Culina, Caravella and the impressive substitute Andrew Barisic, who struck the low left-foot shot which Vukovic parried into the path of Caravella.
Perhaps fuelled by the success of this counter, United continued to use the tactic, and after Culina busted a gut to get himself forward from a corner Gold Coast were defending, he ducked inside and aimed a shot towards the far post.
Vukovic got to it, but could only deflect it into Barisic’s path. United had its winner.
The main thing that allowed the Gold Coast to launch these counter attacks was the connection of the front third in the second period.
Undoubtedly the trigger for this connection was the introduction of Barisic, an out-and-out striker who immediately got on the ball and linked up with Smeltz, Culina and Caravella.
Prior to that Tahj Minniecon was up front, supposedly alongside Smeltz, but he was often found drifting out wide, especially to his favourite channel, on the right.
Smeltz was left isolated and everyone looked to be playing by themselves. There was a clear disconnect, with Culina growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of fluidity.
In truth, in the first period, he was a big part of this disconnect, playing far too deep.
Culina looks a far better player and United look a far better team when the skipper is higher up the pitch, influencing things in the front third, just as he did in the two above mentioned attacks.
It has taken a while, but perhaps Gold Coast have found a chink in the Mariners rearguard.
Watching how McKinna’s men respond, and whether any other team can have similar success, should make for interesting viewing.
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