Sidelined with a back injury for the past two months, Vanstrattan was impressive en route to his side's 5-0 success, writes Lynette Keep.

Despite 26 year old's lack of match action, Vanstrattan looked sharp when he saved a real chance from New Caledonian striker Francis Watrone 10 minutes from the break.

His save saw Gold Coast lead 1-0 at half time, the  only goal coming from a Joel Porter cross which was tapped in by Andrew Barisic.

And Vanstrattan's performance impressed United coach Miron Bleiberg.

"That was Jess's first game and I think he was good," he said. "When you're in trouble, his single save, instead of 1-1, to make it 1-0 at half time - that's the goalkeeper earning his money."

Despite admitting to feeling a bit rusty, Vanstrattan said it felt good to be back on the pitch.

He added: "I just wanted to play the full 90 minutes. Once I was out there I was happy, but I need to play now as much as I can."

Vanstrattan wasn't expecting to make his return to the field until the pre-season game against English Premier League side Fulham, set down for July 8.

While happy with his own performance, Vanstrattan thought The New Caledonia game was another step forward for the club and hinted there was still plenty of room for improvement.

"It's the first time everyone is playing together for various reasons," he said. "We've been mixing it a lot. Players have had injuries, other have had national team duties.

"Jason (Culina) hasn't been back yet so we haven't got exactly the starting XI to play together yet. When we do that, it'll be a treat to see how it ends up."