Gold Coast United emerged as genuine title contenders on the weekend thanks to their fighting 3-2 win over Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium.
Miron Bleiberg's men fell behind when Matt Simon scored in the 42nd minute but fought back immediately through Dino Djulbic which enabled the side to go into the half-time break with plenty of confidence.
In the second half, United made their intentions clear when Steve Pantelidis fired home for his first A-League goal in the 69th minute but this time it was them who conceded two minutes later when substitute Adam Kwasnik snuck in to make it 2-2.
But as champion teams do, Gold Coast struck back almost instantly for the second time in the game through Andrew Barisic and eventually held on for a stirring win which has them well-placed in third position, three points behind league leaders Brisbane Roar with three games in hand, at the halfway mark of the season.
In other matches, Adelaide United were the more efficient of the two sides as they defeated Melbourne Heart 2-0 at AAMI Park, Newcastle Jets did what they had to to record a 1-0 home win over Wellington Phoenix, North Queensland Fury held Brisbane Roar to a 1-1 draw and Sydney FC got a 2-0 win over Perth Glory in Parramatta.
Melbourne Heart: 0 Adelaide United:2 (Robert CORNTHWAITE 5', Marcos FLORES 73') Friday, 19 November 2010 AAMI Park, Melbourne Referee: Chris Beath Crowd: 6,538 Yellow cards:MH - Rutger WORM 36' AU - Sergio VAN DIJK 87'
Newcastle Jets:1 (Marko JESIC 29') Wellington Phoenix: 0 Saturday, 20 November 2010 EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle Referee: Gerard Parsons Crowd: 12,147 Yellow cards:NJ - Ali ABASS 29' WP - nil
Brisbane Roar: 1 (Ivan FRANJIC 85') North Queensland Fury: 1 (Gareth EDDS 9') Saturday, 20 November 2010 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Referee: Alan Milliner Crowd: 10,126 Yellow cards:BR - Jean Carlos SOLORZANO 59', Kosta BARBAROUSES 65' NQF - Simon STOREY 49', Ufuk TALAY 51', Andre KILIAN 88'
Sydney FC:2 (Shannon COLE 75', Alex BROSQUE 80') Perth Glory: 0 Sunday, 21 November 2010 Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta Referee: Peter Green Crowd: 6,654 Yellow cards:SYD - Hirofumi MORIYASU 30', Hayden FOXE 73', Terry McFLYNN 78' PG - Jacob BURNS 70' Red card:PG - Brent GRIFFITHS 90'
Central Coast Mariners: 2 (Matt SIMON 42', Adam KWASNIK 71') Gold Coast United:3 (Dino DJULBIC 45', Steve PANTELIDIS 69', Andrew BARISIC 73') Sunday, 21 November 2010 Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford Referee: Matthew Gillett Crowd: 9,732 Yellow cards:CCM - Matthew LEWIS 81' GCU - Dino DJULBIC 65', Steve PANTELIDIS 90'+3
