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Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg accused Central Coast of roughhouse tactics and claimed a dubious penalty decision could cost his team the A-League championship after a fiery 1-1 draw at Bluetongue Stadium on Friday night.
The Mariners fought back from a goal down to earn a share of the points in front of 5724 fans but it was a fiery second half that was the talking point after the match.
Joel Porter had given table-topping Gold Coast the lead in the 66th minute but the Mariners hit back two minutes later through Nik Mrdja after they were awarded a dubious penalty when he was impeded by Sebastiaan van den Brink.
Tempers flared again shortly after when Gold Coast’s players took exception to a John Hutchinson tackle from behind on Zenon Caravella, with Michael Thwaite grabbing him by the neck, resulting in both players being shown yellow cards.
Bleiberg vented his frustration unprompted after the match, first checking that representatives of the media agreed it was a soft penalty, then unloading.
“I say that this could be a decision that costs the championship, no doubt. We were 1-0 up and on top of the game but all of a sudden, but we lost the points,” Bleiberg said.
“But even though that will cost us the championships, I’ll not be upset with the referee because I’ve been here a few times and the Mariners try to steamroll the other team with any tactic in the world, clean or less clean and the referees didn’t do much.
“I think the referee today stood firm and did to the best of his ability.”
Bleiberg then turned his attention to the Mariners, saying he liked coach Lawrie McKinna but couldn’t understand why sometimes the Mariners acted like “psychos”.
“As for the Mariners I think they broke the record for the fouls they committed, I think 40-something fouls and around 20-something yellow cards, but the point is that they’re a good side and they deserved to win more than we deserved to win,” he said.
“The only question I ask, is for such a good side why do they have to use such tactics and why didn’t they play the 90 minutes that good? They look like a psycho whenever things hotting up.”
McKinna, who spoke before Bleiberg, defended Hutchinson’s challenge and felt the Gold Coast players’ reactions were over the top.
“He won the ball … fair and square. Hutch has won the ball and he’s got grabbed on at the throat and thrown about … Hutch has been harshly dealt with there,” he said.
The Mariners had four-clear cut chances to win the match, three of which fell to substitute Michael McGlinchey, but they couldn’t grab a much-needed win, with Nigel Boogaard sent of in injury time after receiving a second yellow.
The draw left the Mariners at least four points outside the top six with only three games to play and without a win in nine matches dating back to November, but McKinna felt they could still reach the finals if they won their remaining three games.
Gold Coast remain top of the table but left the door open for both Sydney FC and Melbourne to overtake them with wins this weekend.
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