Bullocking Gold Coast United striker Maceo Rigters has warned opposition clubs that his shoot-on-sight policy will continue to pay dividends as the season unfolds.
Bullocking Gold Coast United striker Maceo Rigters has warned opposition clubs that his shoot-on-sight policy will continue to pay dividends as the season unfolds.
Rigters was the star of the show in United’s 3-1 rout of Newcastle on Sunday, scoring his first goal for his new club with a stunning long-range scorcher to continue his impressive start to life in the Hyundai A-League.
That 11th-minute strike was just one of a series of bullets fired from distance by the Dutchman on his home debut, which together suggested there is plenty more to come from the 27-year-old this term.
After being forced to spend the opening two rounds of the season on the sidelines awaiting his visa clearance, Rigters has been irresistible up front for Gold Coast over the past fortnight with power, pace and poise quickly becoming his hallmarks.
While admitting he was short of match fitness having gone more than four months without playing in a competitive fixture, the former Blackburn Rovers striker said he was delighted to have nabbed his first goal.
“I’ve got a hard shot on me so if I get the space, I’ll shoot. You don’t have to pass it all the way into the goal like Brisbane,” he said in a cheeky jab at United’s all-conquering cross-town rivals.
“If I was a bit better with my shots I’d have gotten maybe two or three goals. But it’s all positive. Next week I have the chance to do better.”
“Today, only one went in for me but we had way more chances as a team and we could have easily scored five. But that’s football.”
Missed opportunities have burnt United over the first three weeks of the new campaign – but not on Sunday.
“We’ve played well before, like against Brisbane, but the ball would hit the post or the keeper would make a save (when we were shooting for goal),” Rigters said.
“Today, they went in and that made it easier for us.”
Rigters wasn’t the only member of Gold Coast’s strikeforce to have impressed against the Jets.
Olyroo James Brown scored his third goal from four games, while target man Dylan Macallister also could have put his name on the scoresheet had he made the most of his chances.
That trio will be joined for next week’s match against Sydney FC by young livewire Ben Halloran, who was rested against Newcastle despite overcoming an ankle injury.
That should be cause for concern for the Sky Blues, according to Miron Bleiberg.
“Watch out Sydney. Ben Halloran is another weapon we didn’t have today,” the United coach said.
“I took a gamble on him – he could have played today but I’m a coach and an educator. What you plant now, you get in the future.”
“If I played him today I’d have sent him a message saying ‘look, even if you’re not 100 per cent fit you’re still good enough to play in the A-League’.”
“That’s the wrong message because that’s how you create prima donnas. Now anyone in the team knows if you’re not 100 percent, the coach is brave enough and he won’t take a chance.”
