GOLD COAST—The cap came off and so did the pressure as Gold Coast United ended a dreadful fortnight with a 1-0 triumph over A-League frontrunners Sydney FC on Saturday night.
After conceding eight goals in losses to the two bottom-placed teams, United dramatically turned their form on its head with a dominant display at Skilled Park.
A fired-up Jason Culina epitomised Gold Coast's turnaround with a top-shelf performance at a time his Socceroos' position and future in the A-League were being brought into question.
Culina set up the opening goal of the game in the 36th minute with a pin-point cross to star striker Shane Smeltz who clinically headed home his 11th goal of the season.
The club's captain and marquee man immediately released his pent-up frustration by knocking over two advertising hoardings behind the goals while Smeltz dished out the same treatment to the corner flag.
Unable to stay out of the spotlight, Culina's blood boiled over in a heated exchange with Stuart Musialik and both were yellow carded.
Out-of-sorts Sydney copped three first half bookings and they never seemed to recover from the early loss of skipper Steve Corica after landing awkwardly from a challenge with Steve Pantelidis.
The Sky Blues -- coming off successive wins over Brisbane and Wellington -- lost their early momentum with their captain and the Coast grew in confidence as the game wore on.
While the visitors were on the ropes at halftime, the Coast were unable to add to their tally.
Caravella missed a golden opportunity to double the lead two minutes later when his close-range shot from a Joel Porter cross was stopped by goalkeeper Clint Bolton.
Coast owner Clive Palmer's decision to scrap his controversial 5,000 crowd cap saw the previous week's attendance figure (2,616) doubled as 5,364 turned out at Skilled Park.
The win moves third-placed United to 23 points, two behind Sydney (25) and one behind defending champions Melbourne (24) after their 4-0 upset loss to fourth-placed Central Coast (20).
Added to Culina's class in the midfield, defender Michael Thwaite was a tower of strength as the home side effectively strangled supply to danger men Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge.
Bridge almost gave Sydney an undeserved point with an injury-time salvo which keeper Scott Higgins did well to stop.
A-League Results and Standings Round 14
BRISBANE ROAR 2 (Serginho van Dijk 35m pen, 51m) bt
ADELAIDE UNITED 0 at Hindmarsh Stadium. Crowd: 11,209. Referee: Craig Zetter.
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 4 (Adam Kwasnik 15m, Matt Simon 75m, Dean Heffernan 80m, Nik Mrdja 84m) bt
MELBOURNE VICTORY 0 at Etihad Stadium. Crowd: 18,531. Referee: Strebre Delovski.
GOLD COAST UNITED 1 (Shane Smeltz 36m) bt
SYDNEY FC 0 at Skilled Park. Crowd: 5,364. Referee: Ben Williams.
WELLINGTON PHOENIX 1 (Paul Ifill 81m )
PERTH GLORY 1 (Wayne Srhoj 68m) at Westpac Stadiu. Crowd: 6,930. Referee: Matthew Gillett.
NEWCASTLE JETS 2 (Matt Thompson 55m, Michael Bridges 85m pen) bt
NORTH QUEENSLAND FURY 0 at EnergyAustralia Stadium. Crowd: 6,271. Referee: Ryan Shepheard.
Ladder P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Sydney FC 14 8 1 5 19 12 7 25
2 Melbourne Victory 14 7 3 4 22 22 0 24
3 Gold Coast United 14 7 2 5 20 20 0 23
4 Central Coast Mariners 14 5 5 4 17 8 9 20
5 Perth Glory 14 5 3 6 19 18 1 18
6 Wellington Phoenix 14 3 8 3 20 15 5 17
7 Brisbane Roar 14 4 4 6 18 21 -3 16
8 Adelaide United 14 4 4 6 12 17 -5 16
9 Newcastle Jets 14 4 4 6 14 21 -7 16
10 North Queensland Fury 14 3 6 5 15 22 -7 15
*(denotes teams yet to play)
LEADING GOALSCORERS
11: Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast)
9: Serginho van Dijk (Brisbane)
8: Robbie Fowler (North Queensland)
6: Carlos Hernandez (Melbourne), Mark Bridge (Sydney)
5: Matt Simon (Mariners), Archie Thompson (Melbourne), Paul Ifill (Wellington)
4: John Aloisi (Sydney), Branko Jelic (Perth), Victor Sikora (Perth), Labinot Haliti (Newcastle), Chris Greenacre (Wellington), Tim Brown (Wellington), Mile Sterjovski (Perth)
