Miron Bleiberg acknowledged his Gold Coast United side deserved to lose as their 11-match unbeaten run came to an end at the hands of Adelaide United in a 2-1 loss at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night.
Bleiberg admitted it was a match where not much went right for the visitors after falling behind early courtesy of Paul Reid’s opener.
GCU did draw level on the stroke of half time after a 30-metre wonder strike to Bas van den Brink before Travis Dodd restored United’s advantage after half time.
Gold Coast lost James Brown on the hour mark after a cynical foul on Cassio earned him his second yellow card of the match.
Bleiberg admitted a comeback looked even more unlikely when van den Brink landed heavily late in the second half and was forced to run out the match under duress before being taken to hospital after the final whistle.
“We’re not happy to lose. I think we deserved to lose,” he said.
“We’re not that good that we can beat Adelaide United with 10 men and we’re not that good that we can beat Adelaide with nine men like we played with in the last half an hour. I’m not blaming Adelaide they did what they needed to do.”
“It was one of those games if things doesn’t go for you it doesn’t go for you. Some games you deserve less and you get more. Not taking away anything from Adelaide.”
The GCU coach said the home side were treated as ‘Cinderellas’, hinting they were protected and awarded easy free kicks despite the official stats recording Adelaide committing 12 fouls to the Gold Coast’s seven.
Bleiberg also admitted he believed it was a case of home ground advantage for the Reds with the visitors collecting four yellow cards and a red, while not one of United’s players made it into the referee’s book.
“If you look at the balance of statistic we got I think six yellow cards and one red and Adelaide got none,” he said.
“It was like the Beauty versus the Beast. The Beast from the Gold Coast versus the Cinderellas of Adelaide and that wasn’t the case.”
“And as a player sometimes it hurts you that every time you deserve a foul you don’t get it, I think it also plays a part. Everything turned their way as a home side and what can you do. It’s good they won and it’s a clear top two.”
Bleiberg said that while the Reds have now pulled away from third-placed GCU and opened up a four-point gap in second spot, his side still have two games in hand and could still potentially leapfrog the Reds with two wins.
The only concern for Bleiberg is Gold Coast’s mounting injury list with goal scorer van den Brink taken to hospital post match.
It will leave a big hole to fill in the centre of defence if he weren’t fit to meet North Queensland Fury on Wednesday with defender Michael Thwaite expected to miss another week through injury and stopper Dino Djulbic ruled out through suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season.
Keeper Glen Moss and striker Joel Porter are also set to spend another week on the sidelines.
“But, we play on Wednesday and Adelaide doesn’t play on Wednesday and the Roar doesn’t play on Wednesday,” he said.
“We are two or three games behind, hopefully we win on Wednesday and we’ll be four points behind with still two games in hand.”
“Bas van der Brink went to hospital now and I don’t know if he will play, Dino Djulbic I think that was his fifth yellow card so he will be out. The goalkeeper will not be ready for Wednesday, Michael Thwaite will not be ready for Wednesday. But we will do what we can.”
