Gold Cost United’s 2-1 win against Central Coast on Saturday night at Skilled Park was a turning point for the first-year club, according to coach Miron Bleiberg.
Bleiberg believes the result will set his team up for a strong run into the finals.
After dominating possession early, the home team was unlucky to go 1-0 down in the first half, but a change in tactics and personnel produced an equaliser and then the winner which was scored by substitute Andrew Barisic.
“After a game like this, that’s why I have grey hair and look older than I am,” Bleiberg said.
“I’m very proud, the first half didn’t look brilliant because (Shane) Smeltz was isolated but I don’t see many teams who can control the game against the Mariners so easily.”
“This is one of the cornerstone games you can refer back to and tell the guys, ‘if you did it against the Mariners you can do it against X, Y and Z’.”
“For me it’s a very satisfactory win.”
“I think it will take us a long way and I’m happy, I think the ladder now is reflective of what’s happened so far, if we continue to stick with the top two we are in for a chance.”
Approaching next week’s must-win game against form side Newcastle, captain Gold Coast Jason Culina felt that his team was now starting to play some good football and acknowledged the efforts of super-sub Barisic.
“It’s a huge few weeks for us and we need to string a few results together and gain that confidence, I honestly feel that we are starting to play some really good stuff,” Culina said.
“I told the boys right before the game on the pitch, (if) we get something from tonight and then we go to Newcastle and get a result, we have three home games after (Newcastle) and we can really start to string a few wins together.”
“He (Barisic) came in and he was raw at the start, but he’s kept his head down, worked hard and he got paid back for that tonight.”
Registering its first come-from-behind win in the Hyundai A-league, Gold Coast is now just a point behind Sydney on the ladder and four off Melbourne, which leads on 31 points.
