"WE COULD be watching history in the making," I told my young fella, as the Mariners celebrated Adam Kwasnik's tap-in. Plagued by swine flu and injuries, reduced to ten men on a cold winter's night, and suddenly two goals down after 53 minutes, Gold Coast United's undefeated run looked set to expire very, very shortly. But that was before Jason Culina stepped in.
I'd been watching Culina closely all game, as this was my first chance to see him in action. Yes (sob!) I missed the historic victory over Fulham, and wouldn't it be just like me to be there when history of an altogether different kind was made. But Culina had other ideas.
"Keep an eye on him, you might learn something" I told Sam as the game kicked off in front of a miserly 850 fans (more about that later). "Watch how he covers the field. Watch what he does off the ball. Watch the choices he makes."
Miron's starting lineup looked a bit like this:
________Smeltz___Barisic
____________Robson
_________Zenon___Culina
_______Traore______Fitzy
Thwaite___Pantelidis___Bas VDB
_________ Vanstratten
Fitzy and Robson were regularly pushing forward, while Adama Troare was dropping back to cover, and Culina was just everywhere.
The Mariners hit the post in the first minute. But for the rest of the first half, they simply had no answer to Gold Coast's (dare I say it?) domination. Here's some running commentary, interrupted by a few observations in bold:
1 min: CCM #16 hits post.
7 min: Culina heads down to Barra, near miss.
10 min: Smeltz misses, 10 m out, only keeper to beat.
11 min: Fitzy over the top from 30 m.
By this stage of the game, Gold Coast were clearly in control. On the 17th minute, Culina put a good ball through to Barisic at the top of the penalty box, but Barra's first touch was a miss. Culina just shook his head in frustration, while Barisic avoided looking at him.
20 min: Gold Coast get a free kick just outside the box after Smeltz is pushed. Culina fires low and wide.
22 min: Culina intercepts, makes a run and shoots from 30 m, but it's weak and low.
Smeltz is circling like a shark, sometimes cruising lazily, but then snapping into action at the first scent of blood.
24 min: Smeltz back-heels, Zenon shoots from 30 m.
27 min: Yellow to Panta on halfway.
28 min: CCM #28 heads wide from 10 m.
29 min: Zenon does brilliant work in midfield, gets through four defenders, plays it long to Smeltz, and Culina just misses a header.
30 min: CCM shoot across the box, nobody there to tap it in.
Now the game is getting patchy. Culina's got his hands on his hips, and he's tugging at his shirt as he trots around the field. Clearly thinking deeply.
33 min: CCM #7 shoot high from 30 m.
34 min: Yellow to Thwaite.
35 min: Matt Simon shoots wide to the left from 20 m.
36 min: Smeltz blocked from 30 m out.
36.5 min: Simon again at the other end, but his shot goes sideways over the sideline and up into the stands.
Again, the game is drifting away from Gold Coast's control. Enter Jason Culina, who basically just scares a CCM player and takes the ball off him on halfway, then makes a 40 metre run.
39 min: Culina makes a 50 metre pass to Smeltz, who taps it straight down to Zenon, whose 30 metre shot never has good contact.
Culina starts shouting at his front line. Gold Coast could be 5-0 up by now, and Culina's frustration is showing. Then Smeltz gets the ball on halfway, Culina is free on the right, he's waving his arm in the air like a madman but Smeltz just doesn't see him. A young girl behind me comments on his response: "I'm surrounded by idiots!" A bit harsh, but close enough on the emotional side!
45 min: Culina passes to Barra, who gets a cross into Smeltzy in the box, but still no goal.
HALF TIME
I won't bore you with the same commentary for the second half, suffice to say that the Mariners barely had a chance in the first half but Gold Coast couldn't buy a goal. Robson came off and Rees was on at the break, but two minutes after the restart Thwaite was sent off for an alleged professional foul. And that was really the turning point.
Central Coast scored off the free kick from 30 metres out, then scored again five minutes later when the Gold Coast defence left Kwasnik unmarked. Suddenly mighty Gold Coast were in deep doo-doo.
Miron brought Mitch Bevan on for Barisic, while the Mariners put Caceres on the field with some immediate effect. Jess Vanstrattan made a fingertip save to keep Gold Coast just barely in the match with 15 minutes to go.
And this is where things got interesting.
In sheer frustration, I started shouting, "Jason! Jason! Jason Culina!" It made no difference, the crowd was too small, cold and shell-shocked to get up any kind of chant.
On the pitch, Culina was gesturing madly for Mitch Bevan to move forward but getting only blank looks in reply. Then Bas Van Den Brink got a yellow card and the crowd made their displeasure known with loud boos. Suddenly the game seemed to be stirring back into life...
And now, sit back and relax. Enjoy the moment. This is how it happened...
On the 80th minute, Jason Culina started screaming at Adama Traore: "GO! GO!"
At first bemused, Adama rushed forward up the left wing, not sure what to expect. Culina collected the ball inside Gold Coast's half and immediately put a 60 metre pass across the field that hit Adama in the chest. The boy from the Ivory Coast beat one, two, three defenders and SCORED!!!
The crowd (all 850 of them) went wild. Gold Coast 1 - Mariners 2.
Zenon came off and Steve Lustica came on. Smeltz put a cross into Bevan, who should have headed into the goal but headed across goal instead. Three minutes later the Mariners #7 went mano-amano with Jess and just missed. Only one minute left!
Free kick!!!
Mariners holding Smeltz, 25 metres out. Culina steps up to the plate. Mariners make a wall.
Everyone's expecting Jason to try to smack it into the top corner, but instead he just taps it lightly. It floats up into the air and suddenly time slows right down.
I look at my boy, who is rapt in the excitement. I look at the crowd, on the edge of their seats. And then back onto the field... Is that Shane Smeltz rising above the defence? Why, I do believe it is!
Bang! Smeltz smacks the header into the top right corner, and Gold Coast remain undefeated!
WOOHOO!
Gold Coast 2 - Mariners 2.
Phew. More than good enough, under the circumstances.
Now listen, kids. I've been telling people that Gold Coast are not just good but DAMNED GOOD for months. Now do you believe me?
The only thing we suck at, from what I can see, is drawing a crowd. Hopefully that will change very, very soon.
The season is almost upon us, and Roar awaits. But meanwhile we have a little business in Perth to sort out next weekend. Bring out your crowds, Perth! Show us what you've got!
BWAAAHAHAHA!!!
