On another day, it could have rained goals for Gold Coast United.
On another day, it could have rained goals for Gold Coast United.
Plenty of managers in football blame poor results on pure bad luck, but on the evidence of Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Melbourne Heart, Miron Bleiberg might actually have a case.
United are bottom of the Hyundai A-League and remain three points adrift of their nearest rivals, Newcastle, but they’re certainly not playing like cellar dwellers.
Nor have they been – instead, they are mired in a season that will simply not go their way with red cards, borderline refereeing decisions, injuries and suspensions all wreaking havoc.
The story continued at Skilled Park, but this time the villain was the woodwork. Gold Coast rattled the frame of the goals enough times to suggest some form of conspiracy.
That feeling heated up late on when United were pushing for a winner after Maceo Rigters’ 72nd minute equalizer.
The luckless Paul Beekmans struck the upright twice in five minutes; plenty of other shots did the same, or flashed marginally wide.
Many punters would still be scratching their heads trying to figure out how on earth United didn’t win the match by some margin.
“This game reminded me of my childhood,” Bleiberg said.
“I used to play this game when I was a kid where if you hit the post three times, you get a goal. We should have won 3-1,” he joked
“It was very hard to differentiate who was third on the ladder and who was on the bottom. From this point of view we should be proud, it shows how even the A-League is.
“But we play at home, we’re bottom of the ladder. We need to get three points. One point is not good enough.”
Despite the genuine excuses United can use, that remains the stark reality – if they want to lift themselves from the injustice of the wooden spoon, they simply have to start winning.
But with such a young side, there are bound to be hiccups, and in the eighth minute they slipped behind after a blunder from custodian Jerrad Tyson.
A goalkeeper of considerable promise, Tyson is still learning his trade and was made to pay for not setting his wall up properly as the Heart’s Kristian Sarkies prepared to take a free kick.
There were two men in the wall, and whatever protection they provided him proved flimsy as Sarkies’ strike deflected off one man and sailed into the back of the net, past a helpless Tyson.
Bleiberg let him know at half time.
“I told him, ‘Jerrad, you don’t pay the wages of the players. Why do you save on manpower? Why didn’t you put four men in the wall?'” he said.
“He agreed. It doesn’t cost any more money to put four men in the wall. We haven’t seen Sarkies for ages but he’s well known for taking free kicks.
“We played an inexperienced goalkeeper. We paid the price. He’s young, he’s learning.”
