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Gold Coast United Hit for Six

WELLINGTON PHOENIX 6 (Daniel 28’, 52’, Brown 48’, Greenacre 53’, Ifill 60’, Hearfield 82’)
GOLD COAST UNITED 0
HT: 1-0
Referee: Chris Beath
Crowd: 6571

GOLD Coast United missed the chance to return to the top of the Hyundai A-League when they suffered a shock 6-0 loss to a goal-hungry Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium.

A four-goal blitzkrieg in the first quarter hour of the second half stunned United, making it a game to forget for Miron Bleiberg’s men.

Wellington were eager into the tackle and clinical with their finishing as Gold Coast struggled to get any kind of grip on the game, but few would have predicted the manner in which the home side ran away with it in the second half.

The Phoenix provided a sign of things to come when they were gifted a great chance to open the scoring as early as the 2nd minute. A miscommunication between Culina and Van Den Brink left Paul Ifill in the clear, but his 20-metre drive lacked direction.

United were dealt their first blow midway through the first half when Kristian Rees limped off with a hamstring injury forcing Miron Bleiberg to reshuffle his side. Matt Osman was introduced at right full-back with Michael Thwaite switching to the centre of defence.

Osman’s first contribution was an important one, the substitute heading the ball clear of danger as the home side began to dominate.

Paul Ifill had been a constant menace to the Gold Coast defence and it was he who laid on Wellington’s opener in the 28th minute.

The Barbados international stole in behind United’s back-line and crossed firmly to the near post for the incoming Daniel, who made no mistake from close range.

The home side almost doubled their advantage five minutes later when Ben Sigmund emerged from a crowd of players only to watch his powerful header rebound back off the crossbar.

United finally came to life as the clock ticked down to half-time but failed to test Wellington goalkeeper Mark Paston before the break, with marksman Shane Smeltz and skipper Jason Culina well shackled by the home defence.

It got worse for United during the half-time break when goalkeeper Jess Vanstrattan succumbed to a back injury with Scott Higgins taking his place.

The woes continued for Gold Coast in a nightmare opening fifteen minutes for the visitors. First, Tim Brown ran on to Ifill’s defence-splitting pass to round Higgins and tap into the empty net, then more great work from Ifill set up Daniel for his second of the game.

A minute later Chris Greenacre made it 4-0, then on the hour Ifill scored the goal his endeavour deserved, shooting through Higgins’ legs to leave United shell-shocked.

Substitute Troy Hearfield completed the misery for United when he made it 6-0 in the 82nd minute after being left unmarked in the box.

There were few highlights for Gold Coast who must now regroup for the visit of North Queensland to Skilled Park next weekend.

Gold Coast United:
1.Jess VANSTRATTAN (gk) (20.Scott HIGGINS (gk) 46’), 2.Steve PANTELIDIS (15.Tahj MINNIECON 57’), 3.Michael THWAITE, 5.ROBSON, 7.Zenon CARAVELLA, 9.Shane SMELTZ, 10.Jason CULINA (c), 13.Bas VAN DEN BRINK, 14.Joel PORTER, 16.Kristian REES (17.Matt OSMAN 22’), 24.ANDERSON.
Unused subs: 23.Steve FITZSIMMONS
Yellow cards: Pantelidis 38’, Robson 85’.
Red cards: none.

Wellington Phoenix:
1.Mark PASTON (gk), 2.Manny MUSCAT, 3.Tony LOCHHEAD, 6.Tim BROWN, 7.Leo BERTOS (13.Troy HEARFIELD 71’), 8.Paul IFILL (12.Jiang CHEN 66’), 9.Chris GREENACRE, 11.DANIEL (14.Adrian CACERES 71’), 17.Vince LIA, 18.Ben SIGMUND, 22.Andrew DURANTE (c).
Unused subs: 20.Reece CROWTHER (gk).
Yellow cards: Greenacre 24’, Brown 56’, Chen 78’.
Red cards: none.