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Adelaide kept its unbeaten record intact and entered the A-League record books following a scrappy but somewhat controversial scoreless draw with Gold Coast at Skilled Park on Sunday.
By avoiding defeat, Adelaide has now gone 12 matches across two seasons without a loss which equals the record set by Central Coast Mariners in 2005/06.
But it most likely should have been a Gold Coast United victory after the referee missed a blatant handball by Adelaide forward Sergio Van Dijk in the 83rd minute.
Van Dijk was deep in the Gold Coast penalty area when a Jason Culina free kick thundered into the Adelaide striker’s hand.
The crowd and the Gold Coast players went up as one and appealed for handball, but the referee was blind sided and missed what TV replays clearly showed to be an obvious handball.
Van Dijk was under no illusion about his escape and was caught on the big stadium screens with a big smile on his face.
The controversy brought to life what was an otherwise dull match with both sides struggling to create genuine chances.
Adelaide’s best scoring opportunities came late in the first half when Adam Hughes blasted away from the top of the box at the 40th minute and Paul Reid put his volley from eight metres out from goal wide of the net.
Gold Coast held up well in defence but could not penetrate Adelaide’s back four to any great effect and at times reverted to a kick and hope strategy to score.
Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg was pragmatic about the referee missing an obvious Adelaide handball in the dying minutes but the upside of the draw was they did not concede a goal to the competition pacesetters.
“On the positive side we played the top of the ladder team and they didn’t beat us,” Bleiberg told reporters.
“We finished with a clean sheet and that means we have resilience and we know what we are doing in the back and they didn’t have too many chances.
“He (the referee) made a mistake, I’m not afraid to say, but to justify it, I didn’t see it with my bare eyes.
“And then when I saw it on the screen the second time I thought it could be (Gold Coast player) Joel Porter’s hand so could be referee saw the same thing.
Adelaide coach Rini Coolen took little from his side’s record-equalling achievement and had a different spin on the handball controversy.
“I also saw one (a Gold Coast handball) in the first half and we could have had a penalty from the handball…so it’s a fair result,” Coolen said.
“I was happy with the way we played.
“You are always happy to break some records, there’s always a positive, but you don’t think about it and I’m not sure of the records.”
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