Defenders are the rhythm section of a football team* : when they play well too often they go unnoticed but one error and the harsh light of scrutiny suddenly falls upon them.

Although he has had a fantastic season, poor old Wilko is bound to be tormented by replays of his unfortunate mistake against GCU on Sunday. To see the enduring backbone of our team fall to the ground was a measure of how much the team unravelled in a match that had started so promisingly.  It was truly painful to see him interviewed afterwards.

During the Mariners ill-fated ACL campaign I found myself interviewing  Wilko following their crushing defeat at the hands of Kawasaki Frontale.  Although he made totally rational comments his eyes revealed utter devastation, in fact I'm sure he was on the verge of tears.

Call me a girl, but there's something rather touching about a footballer who wears his heart on his sleeve, especially a team captain. It's a role Wilko has always worn with pride and dignity (ok - not including those Harry Highpants photos) and his reputation as Mr Reliable is one all Mariners fans take for granted.

But fatigue seemed to be the deciding factor in a match The Mariners should have put to bed in the first half, when chances in front of goal seemed to rain down every two minutes, prompting this Harps classic : "That ball's hit Matt Simon's knee, which is probably the last anatomical appendage he wanted it to make contact with."

Personally, I don't much care what appendages they use to score, I just wish we could have dangled a few more in the right direction when it mattered most.  Matty finally did get his goal but the equaliser from GCU right on half-time was an ominous indication of what was ahead. 

Although Arnie flung all the fresh legs he could on in the second half we seemed to run out of juice, somewhat ironic in a match sponsored by Energy Australia.  Unfortunately, wily old Miron had calculated this well enough to take full advantage.  In case you missed it, here's how Miron explained his amazing mathematical powers :

"I tell you something I went to uni and one of the subjects I tried to study was maths and there was a subject called probabilities.  After two lessons I saw that I wasn't smart enough and I run away from class but let's talk a bit about probabilities the difference between us and Brisbane or let's talk first about Adelaide the difference is 6 points. We have to play them twice and we have 3 games behind 3 games behind is 9 points we have to play them for 6 points so we play them for 15 points and they have only played against us for 6 points the difference is 6 points. Which one have a better chance ?  I don't know because I run away from class what do you think ?"

I think the FFA needs to clone Professor Bleiberg and send him round Australia to publicise the A-League, he is such good value but I still hate getting beaten at home.  It was a great crowd and had all the hallmarks of a great homecoming victory but the story didn't end with the last-minute winner we've all seen before.

Instead, it was a big letdown after how well the team have played on the road and left me wondering what exactly was missing. Bojic was conspicuously absent while Kwassie once again proved his absolute star-quality off the bench (starting line-up, anyone ?).

We could blame the new pitch, which looks to be still settling in, but the reality is we have come screeching into a hectic schedule of matches and it doesn't get any easier from here.  F3 Derby and Roar : what better time for the team to step up and show everyone what they can do under pressure ?

To paraphrase Miron : "We lost, we unhappy but we not get carried away."

 * (Feel free to add your own offensive "Drummer Jokes" about defenders e.g. "What do you call a defender without a girlfriend ?" A : "Homeless")