A controversial late penalty has seen Gold Coast United win their first M1 Derby in two years to continue Brisbane Roar’s stunning fall from grace.
The Coast leapt off the bottom of the A-League table with the 1-0 Boxing Day victory at Skilled Park as their arch-rivals slumped to a club record fifth-straight loss.
It is an amazing turnaround for the competition’s defending premiers who celebrated an Australian record undefeated streak of 36 matches just a month ago.
After four losses in the past three weeks it looked as though Brisbane were set to end their losing run with the match deadlocked until the 88th minute.
But more heartbreak struck when United were awarded a contentious penalty.
Roar replacement Rocky Visconte fouled danger man Ben Halloran on the edge of the 18-yard box and Daniel Severino stepped up to slot home the winner.
Roar players remonstrated wildly with referee Kris Griffiths-Jones as Visconte was outside the box when he fouled man-of-the-match Halloran, who was on the line marking.
It wasn’t the only controversy of the night as crowd dramas once again reared their ugly head at Robina.
Despite drawing its best crowd of the A-League season of 6927, more than a thousand fans missed the start of the game and many were still forced to wait until halftime to make it in.
The huge walk-up crowd, with lines meandering back 100 metres, caught out officials with only a limited number of ticket booths open to the general public as per the club’s usual cost-cutting practice.
It tarnished the Gold Coast’s best attendance since January when a club record 14,783 responded kindly to United owner Clive Palmer throwing the gates open following an outcry over his controversial crowd cap of 5000.
And there was trouble inside the stands as well with four orange flares set off among the Roar’s packed section of travelling supporters.
Two were thrown on to the pitch, including one in the second half that rested next to the Coast’s goals, but it was only when the third was let off after half an hour of play that police took any action and evicted the culprit.
At that point the action off the field had been more captivating than that on it as neither side looked threatening.
It seemed to be the cue for the encounter to heat up as both sides created clear chances before the Roar went into halftime with all the running.
Brisbane striker Kofi Danning continued the momentum just after the break when a powerful strike forced a fumble from young keeper Jerrad Tyson but it then swung wildly back the Coast’s way.
The home side hit the Roar’s woodwork twice in five minutes with Ben Halloran striking the cross-bar before Dutch striker Maceo Righters’ angled shot collected the upright.
A total of nine bookings highlighted the feeling in the M1 Derby, the first won by the Coast since Boxing Day 2009.
Roar coach Ange Postecoglou felt Visconte was unlucky to fall victim to the game-breaking call but was diplomatic about Griffiths-Jones’ decision.
“It looked outside (the box) but the referee made the call. You would like to think he was 100 per cent certain. It was a big decision,” he said.
“But I can’t really tell from where I was.”
A defiant Postecoglou rated the Roar’s performance as decent and was bemused when one radio reporter asked whether they were now the A-League’s easybeats.
“We were OK. We’re just lacking a cutting edge in the front third and at the moment we can’t score goals. If you can’t score goals you can’t win games,” he said.
The main downside for Gold Coast, who leapfrog Adelaide into ninth place, was the early loss of Dylan Macallister with a strained hamstring that will sideline him for at least a fortnight.
But they will also lose Paul Beekmans with an automatic one-game suspension for his fifth yellow card of the season.
PeterK
Guest
Agree, jb, not fair at all. We can only hope that that ref got his desserts eventually.
PeterK
Guest
I agree, Kasey. I remarked to my mates several times during the game how accurately I thought the ref was getting his calls. And yes, I agree re the Penalty too -- it's where the contact was made and has nothing to do with where the players' bodies are. I believe it was distinctly within the marked line, but even if one thought it was right above the line, (as you'd know) the line belongs to the area it marks out, and so the contact would still be within the "box" so defined. The other point pertinent here is that some offences give the ref no choice. Once he's made a judgement on the facts of an incident, he must then apply the law to those facts. Sometimes there is room to "let the game flow", but sometimes he is duty-bound to act. If what he saw was a penal offence within the Penalty Area, then he has no choice but to award a penalty.
Qantas supports Australian Football
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Cheers JB. A difference of opinion doesn't mean we should stop discussing football and putting in writing the way we individually see things---It would very boring indeed if we all saw everything that happens in football through the same set of eyes. OK it will be recorded in the history books as a definite penalty. :D (next subject)
Axelv
Guest
Well said Kasey and I couldn't agree more. The ref had a very good match to me, when watching it live I didn't disagree with a single one of those yellow cards.
j binnie
Guest
QsAF An enlightening reply.The stop frame? There is an excellent photo doing the rounds that show the Roar players "standing foot" (his right)about 2 feet outside the line on the ground His left foot is stretched towards the penalty box and the young GCU player is airborne in the act of bring "tripped" by this left foot so it is difficult to assess where he is in relation to the line.Would he have scored had he not been tripped? We'll never know.The question everyone is asking is was the foul committed inside the penalty box line?.I cannot say with certainty for even this photo is inconclusive though it does show the Roar players standing foot well outside. However it WAS a penalty in the ref's eyes and that's really what matters. You obviously misunderstood my reference to "football fan". I think I should have said in order you understand, I couldn't give a stuff who wins the HAL this year,next year,or the year after,as long as the standard of football keeps improving.Where I live has no consequence as to who I "support" , I "support" any team that is playing good football, no matter where they are based in this large country.Cynical? maybe,but honest? yes jb
j binnie
Guest
Kasey Your latest reply is a corker.Let me say one thing so you understand.It was a penalty kick,why?,the referee gave it and that cannot be changed.So be it.That does not mean it cannot be discussed and YOU did say the offence HAD to take place in the penalty box. That's where we differ in opinion .So be it again. Now to your comment about "raw numbers and me presenting them",I never asked you to pass comment I was simply pointing out a statistical fact that in most HAL games played recently the ratio of fouls committed to cards being given is roughly in the 20-24% ratio.In the GCUvROAR game it was 55%. Surely you must see that is extraordinary when all the referees involved are purported to be of the same standard or are you trying to tell me all the players in these other games were really "good boys". That's crap, and as an ex-ref you know that, so I suspect your "devil's advocate performance" for this referee is just that,a performance. Should have asked what do you think of Jack Aston's opinion on how yellow cards should be used.Note you never mentioned him at all.Did you look him up on the Internet or did you think I was spinning you a yarn?. Let me finish this off by saying this, the day a referee punishes every punishable offence by issuing a yellow card and succeeds in having a game forfeited hasn't happened yet in top football and IMO never will for it is in the application of those laws that a referee will be judged on,not by his peers,but by the top men in the game.Let's leave it at that for people will get fed up reading such drivel between two old foes.jb ps Many years ago had a player sent off. Asking him why, he told me he had called the ref,(a top ref ) a bastard.I started to berate him but was cut short by the player telling me the ref had been using that word to every player during the game.Spoke to the referee later and asked him if that was true?. Come on Jim, you know what goes on out there,it's not the word it's the way it is used.That was the answer????? The player got suspended for 3 weeks.the ref. he reffed the next week. Fair????????? jb
j binnie
Guest
Realfootball -This article hits very near the bone.For a team that only a few weeks ago were thrashing opponents something has gone terribly wrong but is the situation irretrievable????? .What you say about certain players is opinionative but it should be remembered that some of them were playing in the team 5 weeks ago.Another comment you made I would caution you on,Issy. In my experience it usually takes a full season for a player coming in from overseas to establish something like best form.What I would agree with is that Nicholls and Issy do not complement each other in the same team and that "best" game you talk about was in fact one where Nicholls didn't play???? Issy scored 2 goals. In your opening remark you did say some other teams in the league have reacted to Roars dominance by coming up with game plans designed to close down the space and time available and depend on fast breaks to catch out a back line which is essentially "square ' at the back.Have their plans worked??? Note the scores in the Roar's defeats,2-0,2-1,2-0,2-1,1-0, ie 9 goals "against", 2 "for ", in 5 games and no points out of a possible 15. How to fix????? A good example of this is GCU's recent form where by simply deploying their players in a different manner they have had 3 blank sheets and taken 7 points from a possible 9.By using a third player at the back they have shut down the number of goals scored,keeping themselves in their games and hoping their young speed players can get the goals they need to win games. Back to Roar.Last night their performance once again showed up that old adage,"possession without penetration is nothing at all" Roar have to work on equating possession to penetration and that means faster,more accurate ball movement,positive and direct running,and shooting on sight when every occasion arises. If this is done goals will surely follow and ,remembering those defeat results it wouldn't take many goals to reverse the trend. Your "criticism" of the squad is actually a picture of what has to be done if Asia has to be a success. That's in the future,The problems of today have to be fixed today using today's players and that is not impossible jb
Kasey
Guest
JB you're not the only one disappointed here. How the heck do you expect me to put a referees hat on and examine some raw numbers as you've presented them and determine how many of the fouls committed were deserving of cautions? If in one game there are 30 fouls and all 30 of them are deserving of cautions then I would hope the ref would give 30 cautions. If that means one team ends up with 7 players and is in danger of forfeit, then that's the way the game has ended up. Its not up to the ref to baby the players. the ref is there to adjudicate on the actions taken by the players, not 'guide' the game in any particular direction(unless you are Greek or appointed by Luciano Moggi ;)) One thing I hate is when a ref bottles it and 'puts away the whistle' in a tight game from say the 70th minute onwards. The game should be controlled in the 90th minute exactly as it is in the 10th. The only difference between the end of the game and the beginning is the fatigue levels of the participants(players & officials) and that by the end of the game, the players and official should have developed the tone of the game. If its a sniper -ridden affair with many players already being cautioned and verballed, then any infringement that crosses the line should rightly be punished regardless of fear or favour. In the GCU/BNR game, I thought it was a scrappy affair verging towards the snippy side of things as players tried hard to stamp their authority on the game, many players had committed fouls that were deserving of caution and indeed the ref issued those cards. He also verballed a few players. I urge you to look at the penalty call again. Look at the position of the body mass of the GCU player at minute 1:00 of theworldgame highlights, the players body appears to me to be inside the plane of the box. I think the Roar player is on the line, but as I've pointed out, the fouling player position is irrelevant, it is the position of the fouled player that the referee must take into consideration. My gut feel on first viewing during the game(ie at full speed) was that it was a pen and I've seen nothing...not one freeze-frame or any talk here that has demonstrated that my initial gut-feel was incorrect. When you are looking at the replay, check the position of the official. He is in perfect position to view the incident, not one even partial obstruction to block his view. H e doesn't hesitate, the whistle goes up and he points to the spot indicating to me that he had no concerns on the validity of yes/no for a penalty. I maintain 100% that he got it right. http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/2180597795/Gold-Coast-United-v-Brisbane-Roar With regard to the Football Gods: Its totally irrelevant to the penalty call but I believe that the outcome of the game was correct. Halloran and Rigters both hit the woodwork a total of three times in the 2nd half and on the balance I thought both teams were pretty poor(Gee anyone remember when watching Brisbane was enjoyable for the neutral?) but I thought GCU were marginally less poor than Roar.
j binnie
Guest
Axelv I know full well when and what should see a yellow card shown.This game was not a "tinderbox",that you seem to agree with so can you tell me why the foul count , 20 committed,attracted 11 yellow cards, over 55%. Compare this with other matches played in the HAL,refereed by local refs, and you will see where I am coming from. For example ,that rip-roaring local derby played in front of 28000 cheering people last week and refereed by the man purported to be Australia's best had a foul count, 24 committed,& attracted 5 cards ie 21%. Why the huge differential???? If you can explain and justify that,more than every second foul getting a yellow card, then you are better than me. Cheers jb
j binnie
Guest
Kasey - You disappoint me with some of the language you use in this reply.Actually I thought that would have been beneath your obvious intelligence. So you have been a referee,does that give you the right to denigrate people who may differ in opinion from yourself?. Now you don't have to lecture to me about the rules of the game but what you have to do is prove to me that the rules of the game HAVE TO BE APPLIED at every stage of the game WHEN & WHERE they COULD be applied. I put it to you that if this occurred the game would never get "off the ground". Now let us examine YOUR words.It was you who said Halloran's RIGHT foot was inside the box and you went further by saying Visconte's challenge and trip was on the LEFT LEG.You omitted to say where that LEFT LEG was and where the offender's "TRIPPING FOOT was when it connected with that LEFT LEG.Surely that denotes where the offence was committed,ie that point of contact between the LEFT FOOT and the TRIPPING FOOT. Elsewhere this "BLOWHARD" has cited an opinion on how and why the yellow card should be used. This is NOT on every occasion that the referee COULD apply the law. Where did I get this information you may ask?. Many years ago I attended a lecture given in Brisbane by one of the world's top referees ,a Mr Ken Aston, who went to great lengths to explain the "personal" side of refereeing,where he expressed the view that the ref. should just be as committed to keeping the game a flowing, entertaining, spectacle as any player ,be it George Best or the great Pele. Jack Aston? Went on to become the top referee in world football and ,wait for it, was the man credited with introducing the "red and yellow card system" of letting a player know if,and to what extent ,he,the player,had been misbehaving. So you see it could be said the world's best did not agree with the application of the rules at EVERY opportunity. Here are some more figures that may interest you Victory v Jets 28 fouls committed 6 cards issued ie 22% Victory v Heart 24 fouls committed 5 cards issued ie 21% Well. v Victory 30 fouls committed 4 cards issued ie 13% A Sydney match 33 fouls committed 8 cards issued ie 23% GCU v Roar 20 fouls committed 11 cards issued ie 55%????????? Now you are no "blowhard or "illiterate" so I expect you would find these figures quite enlightening, ie the smallest amount of fouls in 5 recent games(picked at random) attracted more than double the "punishment" cards. I watched all of the game and nowhere did I get the feeling the game was even approaching what one could describe as "physical" and yet the figures say something else do they not?.Hope this enlightens your thoughts on what MY thoughts were over this incident and the ref's performance overall. jb
Bondy
Guest
+ 1 .
Axelv
Guest
I'm saying that Roar are a better team, and they've lost better players, and those players in their team are harder to replace and they haven't filled them. They've gone from perfection, to losing 6 attacking players in the space of a season, and their replacements are nowhere near as good. And now they are struggling in their attack, they can barely string a proper pass together or a through ball in the oppositions half. Where as Gold Coast was a slightly above average team, that lost average players (Culina and Smeltz are huge though), and has filled them with talented youth.
Kasey
Guest
Stu, Adelaide are back in Asia because in football where abouts you finish on the ladder at season's end is valued more highly than where you finish in the finals series. AdUtd finished third, 4 points( w/ a GD of +15 v +8) clear of Gold Coast. therefore the Reds are back on the highest stage:)
Stu
Guest
Sorry, it's Adelaide in Asia because GC United said no. Still, it's a strange decision. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Realfootball
Guest
There is an interview on the Fox site in which Ange talks about his doubt as to whether he is the right coach for the right club in the right city - tied back to his teams failure to build the support it has (to this point) deserved. I took this to be a very clear allusion to a possible move to Melbourne Victory. Very difficult to interpret it any other way. Perhaps this is what you are referring to. It sounded inescapably like a coach about to move on - and who can blame him? The most successful football team in domestic history and they struggle to top 13,000. We all know that if that was Victory, they would be pulling 25-30,000 every game. It is both puzzling and disappointing that even at the height of their powers, the team never managed to pull attendances up to the previous high-water mark of 15k average.
Stu
Guest
*of* scratch that -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Stu
Guest
We haven't forgotten that United of missed the GF by one game last year but it seems Clive Palmer has. What kind of owner knocks back an opportunity to play in the ACL. Nathan Tinkler must be thanking his lucky stars or maybe Clive owed him one. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
stu
Guest
on a number of occasions ange has made referrence to the 'crowd' the Roar draw, and that the derby game deserved more (with comparrisons to Friday nights game}. I do believe referrence has also been made in the most recent past to being part of a 'big club'. I would suggest ange will see out the ACL then move to the Victory. I think the deal has been done and the ground work is underway via the seeds he is currnetly sowing in the media. Don't get me wrong, it has been a great ride over the last year or so and I in no way think the Roar are dead in the water, however if the coach starts to lose site of what he is involved in now and is starting to focus on what he really wants in the future...say no more. MV have the money and the support. In regards to the game, don't forget that our 2 star players played against Sydney. As mentioned by many, the other teams in the league know exactly what the Roar are going to do once they get the ball. In this professional age, I can't work out why ange thinks the others can't read the play. It has now become a simple formula of press high and if they do get over halfway pack the box and wait to intercept the square ball. i have mentioned a few times that some of the current crop can't rise to the next level as other have also noted, however something not right here.
gawa
Guest
realfootball, you have managed to prove my earlier point. Out of all those players you mentioned only three were regular starters last season. Brisbane needs to sign some new players to improve the squad not just the starting 11. Iread last week that Melbourne Victory last season had a wage bill topping $4 million, while the Roar was around half of that. Then we sold half the first team.
Qantas supports Australian Football
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Axelv----sorry I don't understand your rationale---we have had all but a few of our team of last year leave us. Are you seriously suggesting that the Roar are worse off then us? What I'm saying even with the Roar departures and their current injuries they have replaced them with players of equal quality in fact internationals. They should be slotting in where they left off last year and had until their last unbeaten 36th game.