Your New Year’s resolution? How about getting down to Skilled Park and cheering on the lads
Monday 3 January 2011 6PM
Your New Year-s resolution? How about getting down to Skilled Park and cheering on Miron Bleiberg-s lads as they go for Glory?
Gold Coast United have been much-maligned for the lack of numbers that come through the turnstiles at Skilled Park, but the last home game proved that there is indeed a huge appetite for football in the Gold Coast. When the club offered free tickets to the match against Central Coast Mariners, over 23,000 fans jumped at the opportunity.
Then, on the day of the game, over 10,000 of them braved conditions that would have had Noah readying his ark.
It was sod-s law then, that, with a record crowd in the ground creating a wonderful atmosphere and ready to see Hyundai A-League action at its best, the game didn-t make it past the 20th minute. With an unplayable pitch stopping play, supporters, many of whom were making their first trip to Skilled Park, were left feeling disappointed and perplexed.
The old saying goes that you should always leave the crowd wanting more, so hopefully, with their appetites whetted, many of those fans will come back for the main course. And what a main course it is set to be, as United have a real chance to keep their push for silverware going with a mouth-watering game against struggling Perth Glory.
So, why not give something back to the team that did its best to offer you a free feast of football before Christmas? Get along to Skilled Park once more and show the rest of the Hyundai A-League just how passionate football fans in the Gold Coast can be.
The last thing Perth Glory will want is to face a team backed by vociferous home support, as their away record is woeful this season. The side from way out west have only won once on the road this season, all the way back in Week Two, when they overcame Melbourne Victory.
Indeed, their last away game shows just how far they have regressed since their excellent start to the Hyundai A-League 2010/11 season. When they returned to AAMI Park the week before Christmas, they were comfortably beaten 2-0, thanks to goals from Archie Thompson and defender Rodrigo Vargas.
In fact, if you were to trace Perth-s slide down the table back to its roots, you would find that this weekend-s opponents played a big part. Glory were unbeaten and seemed to be set for a superb season – pundits were even tentatively touting them as potential champions – until United rolled into Perth and rolled back out again with three points thanks to a trademark counter-attacking display.
A first-half goal from Jason Culina proved enough for the Gold Coast on that day. While stopping Perth-s season it its tracks, the win also kick-started their own campaign. They hadn-t won before that day. Since then, they have barely looked back.
It-s Gold Coast against Perth and it-s sure to be a full-blooded affair on the pitch. All it needs is the passion in the stands to match it. So it-s up to The Beach to make plenty of noise in order to help spur Miron Bleiberg-s men on to Glory. Why not join them, and be a part of the Monday night magic? Grab some tickets today!
