It was Thwaite’s first goal in his 10-years of professional football, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time with the Gold Coast narrowly avoiding defeat against a Victory side that seems to have a nasty habit of conceding late goals.
Earlier, Harry Kewell had given Melbourne the lead after his well-taken shot from a free kick burst the back of the net, yet for the second time in as many weeks, a former Victory defender stole the three points away from the beleaguered Melbourne side, with Thwaite’s shot coming only two minutes before time.
The Victory made four changes coming into this crunch match. Isaka Cernak, Diogo Ferreira and Matthew Foschini are all on Olympic duty in the Middle East, so Leigh Broxham, Matthew Kemp and Marco Rojas all started. Meanwhile, Costa Rican, Jean Carlos Solórzano, came in for countryman, Carlos Hernandez, who surprisingly dropped to the bench.
For the Gold Coast, Maceo Rigters and Dylan McGowan replaced Chris Harold and Mitch Bevan on field, while there was a change in goals with Chris O’Connor making his debut for the injured Jerrad Tyson, who hurt his wrist against Sydney FC nine days ago.
For a match between two sides in the bottom four, one couldn’t be surprised with the typically lacklustre opening 15 minutes that the eager Tasmanian crowd had to endure. However, the next 15 minutes could not have been more different with both sides producing some lovely attacking movement to finally entertain the neutral crowd.
Gold Coast firstly enjoyed a good spell of pressure on the Melbourne goal, but despite manufacturing some gilt-edged chances through Christian Rees and Rigters, the away side failed to take the lead in the face of some pretty slack defending from the Victory – Rigters especially producing the best chance for the away side as Victory ‘keeper, Ante Covic, thwarted the Dutchman’s shot from point-blank range.
Melbourne, nevertheless, wasn’t without its moments either as Archie Thompson’s worm-burning curler from the edge of the box just went the wrong side of the post for the Melbourne dynamo, yet O’Connor looked to have had his angles covered.
Gold Coast was forced to make an early substitution before the half-hour mark with livewire, James Brown, forced from the ground with a left leg injury. Yet, the Victory had injury concerns of its own with captain, Adrian Leijer, looking as though he had dislocated his shoulder following a stomach-turning clash with Peter Jungschlager. However, Leijer demonstrated his courageous qualities playing out the rest of the game despite being in extreme discomfort.
Kewell's Header Contentiously Cleared Off the Line
Controversy arose in the 32nd minute when a colossal throw into the Gold Coast box from defender, Mark Milligan, was met on the head of Kewell, who forced O’Connor into a save before the ‘keeper cleared the ball off the line amid a host of vehement protest from the Victory players. Replays revealed little answer as to whether the whole of the ball actually crossed the line, but Kewell was predictably livid that the goal wasn’t awarded.
With Kewell delivering some inch-perfect crosses from the left wing, the Victory’s search for a goal almost bore fruit in the 41st minute through Solórzano. Arguably the Victory’s best chance of the half, a 50-50 ball was won in midfield by Kewell before the Australian star distributed one of his signature balls behind the Gold Coast defence for Solórzano to hit first time. However, the Costa Rican’s goal-bound shot was stopped superbly by O’Connor with the ‘keeper knowing little of the shot.
Minutes following the restart, Kewell came ever so close to scoring from a direct free kick, yet it was the Gold Coast who really should’ve scored moments later.
With the Victory defence attempting to hold a high line, Jungschlager’s lofted ball sailed behind the Melbourne rearguard, where Covic was on hand to deny the ironically named Gol-Gol Mebrahtu with a brilliant one-handed save from the header. The goal was at Mebrahtu’s mercy, but his follow-up strike was somehow smothered by the former Socceroo before Fabio eventually cleared the danger for the Victory.
Kewell Gives Melbourne the Lead
The Victory then enjoyed a lion share of the possession on either side of the hour mark as both Gold Coast centre-halves received yellow cards. This was a virtual invitation for the Victory to attack, and with the game crying out for a moment of quality, Kewell delivered from another free kick which, this time, beat O’Connor.
There were more yellow cards than shots on goals following Kewell’s shot, but this suited the Victory players who were fighting tooth and nail to keep the away side at bay. They were given a late scare on the 86th minute when a free kick from Mebrahtu almost turned into an equaliser. Seeking redemption for his earlier failings, Mebrahtu’s bender appeared destined for the net, but the flawless Covic made yet another save at full stretch.
Thwaite Scores a Dramatic Late Equaliser
Thompson could’ve won it at the death, but it was Thwaite who turned the match on its head in injury time when his one-two with Rigters allowed the former Victory defender to continue his run and get a shot off that whisked past the outstretched Covic. It was terribly harsh on the Victory ‘keeper, who had been outstanding all night for the Victory, but Thwaite’s risk and reward run from defence secured his side a deserved point.
Melbourne Victory 1-1 Gold Coast.
Andy Paolacci - Hi there! My name is Andy Paolacci and I am a 26-year-old Monash University Arts/Journalism graduate from Melbourne, Australia. I have ...
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