REFEREE IN COACHES’ SPOTLIGHT
THE Gold Coast Premier League title race remains wide open after an enthralling stalemate between Burleigh and Gold Coast Knights, but it was the performance of referee Daniel Larney that proved the major talking point on Saturday night.
With scores locked a 2-2 in stoppage time, the ladder-leading Bulldogs looked to have stolen all three points through Matt Hilton before Larney disallowed the goal for an infringement in the lead up.
Half an hour earlier, the visitors were incensed when Burleigh were handed a dubious penalty, with Hilton stepping up to level the scores with his 11th goal of the season.
While coaches Colin Phelan (Burleigh) and Grae Piddick (Knights) questioned the decisions after the game, both men admitted a draw was a fair result.
“I don’t know why he disallowed (the last goal). It’s a bit of a mystery,” Phelan said.
Burleigh opened the scoring inside 20 minutes through Yuto Hayamizu before Andrew Barisic stuck twice shortly before halftime to give the Knights a 2-1 lead at the break.
In Saturday’s other Round 9 fixtures, Coomera beat Palm Beach 3-1, Nerang heaped more misery on Mudgeeraba with a 4-1 win and Tweed United edged out Murwillumbah 3-2.
Yesterday, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach United drew 0-0.