Ben Wearing's header in the 74th minute was enough to secure the points for United and stretch their winning run to four games, confirming them as favourites to retain their NYL title.

The result avenged the 2-0 loss to the AIS back in round 11 and means Mike Mulvey's side will remain at least four points clear of Brisbane Roar Youth regardless of the outcome of the Roar's match against Perth Glory Youth later today.

Conscious of the quality of the AIS side, Mulvey adopted a pragmatic approach in the opening 45 minutes and his tactics paid off with the two sides going in 0-0 at the break.

However, the home team enjoyed the bulk of the first half play without creating much in the way of genuine goalscoring opportunities as United coped well with their opponents attack.

A string of corners was all the AIS had to show for their efforts, but Gold Coast did have ‘keeper Jerrad Tyson to thank for keeping the scoreline blank when he made a super double save midway through the first half.

When the AIS's Yianni Perkatis thumped a strike at goal, Tyson first allowed the ball to escape his clutches, but then recovered admirably to steer away the follow up from Perkatis who had pounced on the rebound and seemed certain to score.

First half mission accomplished, a tactical reshuffle during the break saw United adopt their trademark attacking formation and take the game to the hosts.

A neat move early in the half almost broke the deadlock when Bobby Russell crossed perfectly for Golgol Mebrahtu, only to see the striker's header saved by Paul Izzo in the home goal.

Almost immediately Russell was in the thick of the action again, this time at the other end as United's saviour when he cleared the ball off the line following a corner to the home side.

With 16 minutes to go Gold Coast's pressure paid off when they struck the decisive goal. Josh Brillante recovered the ball after miscuing in the box, then sent over a cross that was met perfectly by Wearing who headed home his third goal of the campaign from eight metres.

Last week's hero, Ben Halloran, had a couple of half chances to increase the winning margin, but United looked comfortable at 1-0, driven by an industrious performance from Andrew Barisic who was playing in an unfamiliar midfield role.

AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF SPORT 0
GOLD COAST UNITED YOUTH 1 (Wearing 74')
HT: 0-0
Referee: Stephen Lucas