Gold Coast United have capped off their second consecutive National Youth League-winning season on a high note as they romped to an easy 5-2 win over crosstown rivals Brisbane Roar at Southport on Monday afternoon.
Having already secured an unassailable lead atop the table with last week’s win against the AIS, United took three more points in their last assignment of the season as captain Steven Lustica, pacy striker Chris Harold, winger Ben Halloran and substitute Bobby Russell all took advantage of a game Roar goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne would rather forget.
The victory was Gold Coast’s 13th for the campaign and means they will finish at least six points clear of second-placed Central Coast, with the points from October’s postponed match against Melbourne Victory expected to be split without a rescheduled meeting.
Much of the opening half was dull and offered little in the way of goalscoring chances, but a flurry of strikes just before the half-time break rescued a match that was at risk of petering out into little more than a training run.
The Roar were giving their local rivals no space to work with but in the 36th minute, Gold Coast broke the shackles and took the lead through Lustica.
After Halloran’s run forward was thwarted by the outstretched foot of defender Daniel Bowles, the exciting winger regained possession and played a ball across the box for Harold.
His shot had Redmayne beaten, but it rattled against the left upright and into the path of Lustica, who gleefully tucked away the scraps for the first goal of the afternoon.
Their advantage was doubled just six minutes later thanks to a howler from Redmayne. The Roar’s senior backup ‘keeper had the ball deep in his own half but Harold and Halloran pressed high and forced him to cough it up, with the latter setting up the former for an easy tap-in.
Just before the break, the Roar pegged one back after Alistair Quinn played Joshua Groenewald in with a delightful ball, and the marksman smashed his shot into the back of the net to make it 2-1.
Groenewald looked lively and would have had a brace early in the second half were it not for a goal line intervention from United stopper Ben Wearing while only the woodwork denied Kenneth Dougall from a spectacular long-range equaliser just moments later.
But in the 66th minute came another bright sign for United’s future as Harold and Halloran linked up again. Brisbane’s rearguard was no match for their quick feet and near-psychic understanding.
This time Harold turned provider, clipping a ball in for Halloran to skip past the Roar defence and finish with style – and just seconds after the restart, Harold was a fingertip away from his second goal with Redmayne finally getting his hands on a shot.
But the goalkeeper’s headaches continued just four minutes later, with substitute Bobby Russell showcasing his skills to outrun the defence and slip the ball between the legs of Redmayne who, for a senior player just a fortnight away from being Michael Theoklitos’ understudy in the Grand Final, would have been looking for a far better performance.
Brisbane’s Matt Mundy earned a consolation goal for the visitors in the 83rd minute, drawing a foul from Neko Vujevich in the danger area for a penalty tucked away by Rocky Visconte – but in the dying stages United were awarded one of their own.
James Donachie felled Halloran in the area for his second yellow card and subsequent expulsion, and Lustica stepped up at the spot, although Redmayne redeemed himself to deny the captain his brace with a solid save from what was, in truth, an average strike.
But just as the scorers put down their pens they were jolted back into action, with Harold nodding home another cross from Halloran in the 90th minute to put the exclamation point on another dominant display by Mike Mulvey’s champions.
Gold Coast United 5 (Lustica 35, Harold 42, 90, Halloran 66, Russell 70)
Brisbane Roar 2 (Groenewald 44, Visconte 83p)
