Gold Coast have showed their ‘Flying Dutchman' is more than a match for the Flying Jets, coming away from another open Week Four fixture with a 3-1 win.
And yes, I am aware the Flying Dutchman was a ship. But Newcastle don't really fly jets either.
Nor play football too well if the truth be told. Gary van Egmond's first game in charge delivered little in the way of ‘new coach spark'. Perhaps having already been the coach voids that phenomenon.
But yes, as Gold Coast United have claimed their first win of the season, and Newcastle have left us asking how they got one in the first place.
This game was contested largely in midfield, with low percentage balls being favoured by both sides, usually being cut out, but occasionally, leading to chances on goal, which United capitalised on relatively efficiently. Well, more so than the Jets at least.
It may seem that Newcastle are being unfairly bashed here, and that is in no way my intention. Indeed, neither team should be happy with their performance.
United did get the lead early through their portly recruit - sorry, their most recent portly recruit, Maceo Rigters.
The man, though lacking a little in match fitness, has a lot of skill and a heck of a shot. A bit of a team move saw McGowan, young right back for Gold Coast take the ball down the line, turn and play the ball to Beeksman who was just in the box, to turn and play the ball to Macallister who was a little further in the box, who turned and laid it off for Rigters at the top of the box.
Maceo obligingly put his foot through the ball and gave the Coast the lead within 11 minutes.
The rest of the half delivered a midfield arm wrestle of players attempting remarkable plays above their skill levels. Above Cristiano Ronaldo's skill level.
Newcastle are clearly desperate. Ryan Griffiths on the right wing was having a good game, but just had that look of a player who is trying too hard. And he wasn't the only one on the pitch.
The amount of ball given away by both sets of players was astonishing. Seemingly the desire to force the miraculous instead of retain possession until a real opportunity presents, is just too much.
The second half went much as the first, with neither team achieving much from open play.
Thankfully in the 58th minute a soft free kick against Elrich on Traore gave the Coast a chance from a deadball situation. Jungschlager delivered a cracking low shot at goal, Kennedy could only parry it away for defender Kristian Rees to follow through and crumb the goal.
But just ten minutes later the Jets had a similarly soft free kick to deliver from. Ryan Griffiths played in the cross which went straight through the pack for captain Jobe Wheelhouse at the far post to control and bury to give Newcastle a glimmer.
However, they never looked like pressing on. Van Egmond tried some attacking substitutions, bringing on Jesic, Haliti and Abbas, but still nothing was happening from midfield and Zadkovich had completely lost the plot by that stage.
One of the more positive signs however was for the opposition, with young gun James Brown rounding out the scoring.
Beeksman dispossessed the Jets in their own half and unleashed Brown down the left. He was clear on goal and buried the ball low to give his team the win in the 83rd minute.
He could have had far more, with this being at least the third one-on-one he had had with Kennedy that half, he was turning Byun inside out on that wing, just lacking the finish every time. I can only imagine that when he did finally get the goal, James Brown must have felt good.
I'm ashamed of that joke, I really am. Not enough to delete it, but there is some shame.
And speaking of shames, the crowd's have become such an issue now at Skilled park that United are now amplifying the core supporters club, 'The Beach'.
And I don't mean, cupped hands, Vuvuzela's or even a smuggled bull horn, I mean a microphone to the Stadiums main PA system, which just made chants sound echoed, and clapping patterns horribly off beat.
Gold Coast United are themselves took to Twitter to express their disappointment, saying ‘this team deserves more,' though with the 140 character limit, we can't be sure they weren't just echoing Postecoglou's comments Friday night about the Brisbane Roar. We'll assume they were talking about themselves.
And surely Twitter wouldn't be the best place to advertise, you would hope the 1,606 followers of @GoGCU would already be at the game. But I digress.
Realistically, both these teams will be scrapping to be in the last couple of finals spots come April, but right now, getting a win and any win was important for the Gold Coast. Dwindling crowds, with the exception of Rigters, you'd have to say poor recruiting, and with their rivals to the north doing so well, just staying relevant is becoming more and more an issue for United.
Newcastle have plenty of work to do, and although there is definitely improvements to make with the current personnel, I can foresee big changes for van Egmond in closed season.
But that's the even more peculiar thing, he's come in 4 games into the season. It's not as if he can write this season off and rebuild in the off season, we still have 20 odd games to go before you can think about a restructure.
A lot of work for van Egmond to mould someone elses team. Even more work for Miron Bleiberg to maintain the illusion that Gold Coast come into games with any tactics.