Gold Coast United midfielder Zenon Caravella believes Wednesday night’s match against cellar-dwellers North Queensland Fury is the perfect opportunity for his side to bounce back from Friday night’s rare defeat at the hands of Adelaide United.
The nuances of the Hyundai A-League draw means after losing away to the Reds, United have three home matches in two weeks to show it was just a blip on the charge for the title – and the Fury are the first cab off the rank.
North Queensland were disappointing at home to Perth Glory on the weekend and had three points on a platter for them after two men were sent off for the visitors, but their search for a winning goal was ultimately fruitless – and with them coming to Skilled Park, Caravella expects a win.
“We need to capitalize on the home games we have coming up and hopefully get a good crowd behind us and help us get these home wins – they’re very important,” he said.
“The Fury are a young side and they’re full of running so it’ll be a tough game. But if we can play well like we know we can we should win – there’s no excuses.”
Friday night’s loss to Adelaide was the first time the Gold Coast have left empty-handed after 90 minutes since way back in August, but at times Caravella thought his team were well in with a shot of taking at least a point home with them.
“Adelaide were good – I thought before they scored we were well on top but once they did it changed the whole dynamic of the game. It’s hard down there to get on top of them once they’re playing well because of the crowd there,” he said.
Gold Coast were already stretched going into the Adelaide match, missing Michael Thwaite, Glen Moss and Joel Porter through injury, and with Dino Djulbic and James Brown suspended and van den Brink in doubt, they may have to make do with a makeshift eleven against the Fury.
“When it rains, it pours I guess,” Caravella said.
“Dino’s out, Browny’s out, and we’ve got Michael, Mossy and Ports out as well but we’ve just got to adjust and deal with it, which we will. There’s no need to press the panic button.”
“There’s enough good quality youth players that have come through and we’re flexible enough to do the job.”
“For example, Ben Halloran is lightning quick and pace always helps, and he’s done well the few times that he’s played so I’m sure everyone will have every confidence in him coming into the side.”
