A disappointed Graham Arnold thinks the Mariners should have wrapped up what turned out to be a 3-2 loss to the Gold Coast in the first half.
It was all one way traffic in the opening 45 minutes of the action packed encounter at Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday with the Mariners peppering Gold Coast `keeper Glen Moss.
Mustafa Amini, Michael McGlinchey and Chris Doig all forced saves for the shot-stopper but it was Matt Simon who finally broke through for the hosts to put them in front only for Dino Djulbic to equalise for the Gold Coat just before the break.
“It should have been over at half time,” Mariners coach Arnold said after the match.
“I don’t think it’s the first time I’ve sat here and said the same thing, we have to be more ruthless in front of goal.
“It could have been three or four nil at half-time.
“For them to get one back just before half-time was the killer.”
Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg agreed with Arnold but knows his team had a few things on their side.
“Our biggest escape was that we scored just before half-time and I think that was the goal that basically killed them mentally,” Bleiberg said.
“But I think we had two big advantages,” he said knowing his opponent’s 2-2 draw with Melbourne Victory on Thursday would have sapped their energy.
“One is they played on Thursday and it wasn’t an easy game and the other advantage is the condition of the pitch, because it’s a new turf it took away from them the advantage of the home team.”
In the most lively few minutes of the match Steve Pantelidis scored his first ever A-League goal to put the visitors in front 2-1.
Only moments later the Mariners equalised with a goal from super-sub Adam Kwasnik only to go behind again when a schoolboy error by the usually reliable Alex Wilkinson gifted the Gold Coast their third goal to Andrew Barasic.
With Djulbic’s first-half effort the visitors sealed the win at 3-2 to see them leapfrog the Mariners on the ladder and cement their place in third spot.
“In the end we won and I think we won because they ran out of legs not because we’re a better team,” Bleiberg conceded.
The Mariners were back on their home turf after seven weeks on the road with the biggest home crowd this season, of just under ten thousand, coming out for their long awaited comeback match.
“We would have loved to get the win with a great crowd here,” Arnold said.
“But I’m sure they’ll be back, I’m sure they were happy with how we played in that first half.
“They’ve come and seen five goals and OK we didn’t win, but they’ve seen an entertaining game.”
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