It's about time Miron Bleiberg's brilliant Gold Coast United team started getting a bit more respect. Unless the salary cap is raised, this could well be the best team the A-League ever sees. So please, enjoy it while you can.

Unfortunately, it's a rare thing for the Gold Coast to get due respect from the southern football media or their friends in the FFA. The game commentary on Sunday was a typical example of parochial Sydney media distortion.

Post-game, Miron rightly roasted pundits who had prematurely declared this season a two-horse race.

Of course the FFA aren't the only people who would love to see a Sydney-Melbourne top two, with the same two teams in the Grand Final. Think of the crowds! The exposure! The money! But somehow, I don't think it's gonna happen.

Miron's marauders are now closing in on an historic inaugural double, followed by a campaign of shock and awe across Asia. But do we have to win the Club World Cup before anybody down south appreciates us?

By contrast, the media have been deliriously elequent in praising the "wily" Czech who revived John Kosmina's Sydney squad. Has Viteslav Lavicka's name already been etched on this season's Best Coach award? If so, a hat-trick of losses to Bleiberg's boys should spark a serious reassessment.

(Mind you, the reigning Coach Of The Year is Aurelio Vidmar, and before him it was Gary Van Egmond, so maybe it's a poisoned chalice.)

After conceding that old legs played a part in his third loss to the Gold Coast, the Sydney coach might now be re-thinking his decision to stick with the players he inherited. Maybe he just under-estimated Gold Coast United and their charismatic Israeli coach? If so, he wouldn't be the only one.

Sure, Sydney were missing Brosque, but we were without Traore and Miller, and this was our team's third game in a week. We did the job in the first half then dropped back and absorbed everything Lavicka could throw at us, including a ginger-haired striker. At the final whistle, there was yet another big grin on the face of the Israeli who arrived in Australia as a honeymooning backpacker.

If Miron doesn't get more respect, it's likely due to his strong personality. Or should that be multiple personalities, given that he eagerly plays so many vocal public roles. One moment he is giving reporters the outrageous headline quotes they crave, two minutes later he is modestly conceding the hard facts. One moment he's out on the training paddock working up a sweat, the next he's smooching with his billionaire BFF.

Speaking of Clive, if we don't win the league this season, it will be all Mr Palmer's fault. Ironically, the owner who declared that we would go undefeated all season is also the man whose penny-pinching triggered our mid-season collapse. Without the Crowd Cap crap, our losses to the Nix and Fury could well have been 1-0 victories, in which case we would now be seven points clear, with a goal diffence of 15 and a Premiership in the bag. Astonishingly, Palmer's still not ruling out another cap next season!

Jason Culina has diplomatically blamed a long pre-season for that slump, but I'm not buying it. In fact, Miron's solid pre-season workout is another excellent reason for people to reassess his coaching credentials. United exploded out of the blocks while other clubs were still struggling to field a cohesive team, and those points are now invaluable.

And let's not forget how Miron put this brilliant Gold Coast squad - not to mention the club itself - together in the first place. If he doesn't win the Coach of the Year award, whatever happens now, then something is very wrong at the FFA.

Anyway, back on top of the table, it's worth pausing to reflect on how far we've come. Even if we lose every game from here on (which we won't) it's still been an extraordinary inaugural season. Especially given that our brilliant Youth League team is still in the hunt for a double triumph, and we have a lineup of youngsters ready to replace any departing stars.

The task now is to take our best form all the way to the Grand Final, and show everybody (including ourselves) just how good we are. It's no time to get cocky, but neither is it a time to sit back and hesitate. For starters, we need to whack a few goals past the Mariners, just in case goal difference ends up being the deciding factor in this crazy season.