United languish in red

GOLD Coast United finished two players down and with pride dented after a disappointing home debut in the National Premier Leagues on Saturday night.

United went down 2-0 to Brisbane Roar Youth at Robina Station Reserve after losing defender Brandon Reeves to a straight red card shortly after halftime, then midfielder Nick Panetta for a second yellow card just before the final whistle.

Those send-offs, particularly that of Reeves, hurt United’s cause at all against an enthusiastic Roar, although the damage was done early, as coach Sean Lane highlighted.

“I don’t think we switched on in the first half,” Lane said.

“I thought the Roar made it difficult for us and that we were a little afraid to get on the ball and try and play the way we have been training.”

The die was cast when Mirza Muratovic found the net after eight minutes and the result was sealed by a superb strike from Bryce Bafford with five minutes to go.

It was a bruising first home match for United whose players drew a total of four yellow and two red cards while the

visitors had only two yellows brandished.

Yet the home side did not have too much to complain about on this front because they did take an aggressive

approach into the game.

Any chances that did fall the Coast’s way came late in the first half and were comfortably dealt with by Roar keeper Macklin Freke.

“We had a patch there for 20 to 25 minutes when we created four or five chances but their keeper made a couple of good saves,” Lane said.

“Just maybe if one of those had gone in the result might have been different.

“Once we had a man sent off we had a choice to shore things up but we didn’t.

“We played three at the back and went on to try to win the game.

“Sometimes you get caught with a sucker punch and their second goal (from Bryce Bafford) was a cracker.”

The second half was a positive for Lane as he works on ways to turn things around on Friday night when United play Redlands United away in the third round.

“If we can play like we did in the second half we’ll be a hard team to play,” he said.

Picture: CRAIG CLIFFORD@SPORTSPICS Gold Coast United’s men might have been disappointed but the women had a goal to Neesa Doyle (right) to thank for their win.

United’s Nick Panetta (right) slides for a tackle.