Gold Coast United showed no mercy in the battle of the Hyundai A-League new-comers, dominating North Queensland Fury with a 5-0 victory at Skilled Park on Saturday night.
United came into the match minus five starters from its Round 1 triumph but that mattered little to Shane Smeltz who grabbed four goals himself.
After a rusty start Smeltz opened the scoring in the 29th minute, then poured on three goals in 10 minutes midway through the second half.
By the 80th minute the home side was toying with its Queensland rival when Tahj Minniecon grabbed its fifth in a brilliant solo effort.
The Qantas Young Socceroo burst into open spaces and then with a series of fakes left a defender and the goalie prone on the ground before placing the ball in the net.
United coach Miron Bleiberg was modest in the aftermath, playing down the attacking prowess of his star striker.
“You can talk about all the goals scored and no offence to ‘Smeltzy’ but I am more impressed with keeping a clean sheet,” Bleiberg said.
Robbie Fowler was unsighted in his second match for the Fury with Qantas Socceroo Michael Thwaite denying him any sniff of an opportunity.
Fury coach Ian Ferguson attempted to change his game-plan after half-time but to no avail.
“They did a good job on Robbie, we tried to push a few boys forward but when he got the ball there was no support,” Ferguson said.
With Adam Griffiths leaving for Saudi Arabia midweek and Robson, Milson and Daniel Piorkowski succumbing to injury United had a void to fill.
Enter Adama Traore.
The 19-year-old from the Ivory Coast was uncontainable for Gold Coast and played a big part in the opening goals.
At 0-0 with North Queensland on the attack Traore intercepted midfield and put his skipper Jason Culina into space who then curled a ball 20 metres off the outside of his boot to find Smeltz who made easy work of a good opportunity.
Smeltz got his second just nine minutes into the second term, again on the back of good work from Traore.
Surrounded by three defenders, the teen stabbed a ball midfield and found Thwaite on the run, the vice-captain made it all the way into the box before Beau Busch fouled him.
Smeltz stepped up to take the free and belted the ball past Paul Henderson to give United breathing space at 2-0.
Seven minutes later Smeltz had his third and fourth in the space of a minute as the Fury defence began to crumble.
The first of the two came after a smart give-and-go with Joel Porter landed him in open space with only the keeper to beat, and the next came on a good cross from Steven Fitzsimmons.
After his fifth goal in United colours Smeltz could hardly believe his luck as he was swamped by his team-mates.
United was in control right from the start, but in the first half-hour without Griffiths and Robson steering the ship from centre-field looked a shadow of the slick outfit which disposed of the Roar in Round 1.
However, after half-time the men in gold came out firing on all cylinders to run away with the match.
The Fury didn’t enjoy a lot of quality possession but looked dangerous when they did get a chance.
Midweek recruit Shane Stefanutto was sharp in his debut and his left side combination with David Williams proved the home side’s biggest threat.
Gold Coast United 5 (Smeltz 29, 55, 63, 64, Minniecon 80)
North Queensland Fury 0
Crowd: 7526 at Skilled Park, Gold Coast.
