In a game where the home side dominated the first half but let it slip in the second Gold Coast United leapfrogged Central Coast Mariners and moved 2 points free into third place on the Hyundai A-League ladder after coming away from Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday evening with a 3-2 win.
Both sides started in a weakened state with the Mariners still without Argentine midfielder Patricio Perez and without in-form right back Pedj Bojic (forcing captain Alex Wilkinson out of his central role). For Gold Coast Michael Thwaite was out due to an ankle strain, and coach Miron Bleiberg was dealt another blow before the kick-off with striker Joel Porter forced to withdraw after injuring his hamstring in the warm-up.
The game kicked off in good weather for once and a positive crowd of a bit under 10K. Two minutes in Jason Culina received from Adama Traore but his weak attempt at a shot just trickled to Mariners young 'keeper Matt Ryan.
Four minutes later Daniel McBreen received a looping ball from Michael McGlinchey but headed wide of goal on the right.
In the 12th minute Mariners left back Joshua got down the left and put a cross in front of the goalmouth with McBreen coming up fast, but Gold Coast defender Kristian Rees stuck out a toe to force the ball for a corner.
Alex Wilkinson got up on the right one minute later and played a beautiful ball into the path of McGlinchey but he rushed his shot and it went over the crossbar.
Young Socceroo Mustafa Amini was ranging the middle of the park picking up scraps for the Mariners and latched onto one in the 21st minute 30m out and almost slipped his forceful shot under Goad Coast 'keeper Glen Moss, who had to gather it a second time from behind him on the goal-line.
Moss was called into action in the 30th minute when McGlinchey free in the midfield surged forward and struck a shot that forced a diving save from the Gold Coast custodian.
At this stage it was all Mariners. Amini again troubled the keeper in the 36th minute with a stinging rising shot that an advancing Moss got his fingers to, to lift it just over the crossbar.
At last the home side got some reward, when in the 42nd minute Matt Simon turned in a low cross from Joshua Rose who got away down the left. 1-0
Just when it looked that the Mariners might go on with it, disaster struck three minutes later.
Steve Pantelidis won a corner and Jason Culina sent a deep cross towards the mass of players contesting it in the area. The ball came out to Dino Djulbic whose first lob was headed back down by Chris Doig but onlt straught to Djulbic. He reacted well to the loose ball and sent powerful drive into the top corner to level the score. 1-1
With the restart the Mariners appeared shaky. Five minutes in Anderson dissected the central defensive pairing to be free well clear and not off-side but he skewed his shot well wide on the right.
In the 53rd minute Simon moved away on the left and sent a ball in to McBreen and then it went to McGlinchey whose hot was parried by Moss.
Then came four minutes of chaos, that marked the way the game had turned.
Steve Pantelidis took the Gold Coast into the lead at 69 minutes. It was Pantelidis' first goal in the Hyundai A-League, in his 87th match, but as Gold Coast media noted, was well worth the wait. Steve Fitzsimmons challenged for Adama Traore's leftside cross and when the ball fell into the path of Pantelidis charging up the right, he made no mistake as he slammed the ball outside an advancing defender and inside Matt Ryan's right post. 1-2
90 seconds later the home side levelled through Adam Kwasnik and there was a hope in the home crowd. A long ball down the centre evaded Djulbic and Kwasnik got a touch past Moss, leaving Kwasnik with a simple finish. 2-2
Alas for the Mariners Alex Wilkinson failed to deal with a diagonal ball from Steve Pantelidis and as the ball rebounded the lurking Gold Coast substitute Andrew Barisic pounced on the ball, holding off Wilkinson, and surged towards the goal and slide the ball past Matt Ryan. 2-3
Ryan had to make a 77th save at full strength off Barisic, but both Simon and Rostyn Griffiths missed opportunities in the last few minutes to lose their first game at home this season and stallk the club's momentum ahead of the midweek clash away with Newcastle Jets.
Mariners Coach Graham Arnold was quite clear in his take on the game. "This isn't the first time I've said this but we need to be more ruthless in front of goal. In the past we have gotten away with it, and today we didn't. It could have been three or four nil at halftime, and then just before half-time we copped that goal from a set piece. It took the sting out of us and I knew that we would fatigue a bit in the second half. We're creating chances - that's the main thing. We've just got to keep on going. I thought we played well in the first half.”
He continued, "We would've loved to have got the win with the great crowd we had today. It's fantastic that crowd turned up and I'm sure they'll be back. They would've been happy with the way we played in the first half. They've come to a match and seen five goals". "While we weren't in the winners circle today, they've seen an entertaining game", he added hopefully.