Gold Coast United came away from the shores of Brisbane Water with a point, having harried the league leaders, home team Central Coast Mariners, to a 0-0 draw in front of a season record crowd of 14,838.
Some New Year's Eve games at Gosford have been exciting matches but rarely have the home side won them - tonight the fireworks were again reserved for the 9am waterfront show and a draw looked more likely as the game wore on.
The Mariners were only missing defensive midfielder Royston Griffiths but the visitors had a very young look to them as Miron Bleiberg drew on graduates of his youth side for their revival.
Josua Rose got forward early to get in a cheeky lob that just cleared the crossbar, giving rookier goalkeeper Jerrad Tyson a heart-starter in the 4th minute.
It wasn't only the Mariners using their flanks, with the Gold Coast hugging the sidelines to stretch the home sides midfield. In the 11th minute Adama Traore got behind Ped Bojic and sent in a cross that was then hit wide on the left by Ben Halloran under pressure from Patrick Zwaanswijk.
Some great interchange work by the Mariners two minutes later saw Bernie Ibini-Iseiin the box but the final play was ruled off-side.
With the Gold Coast looking for the break, it was only great work by Alex Wilkinson tracking Maceo Rigters that prevented a shot on target, and from a rebound Ped Bojic cleared further danger.
The visitors were doing a very good job of stifling the Mariners midfield play, giving them no time to dwell on the ball and the constant looming presence of Jonas Salley out of the corner of the eye may have been off-putting. Certainly something was putting off Michael McGlinchey whose passing was seriously astray all game; and whenever Mustafa Amini was on the ball he was closed quickly by a wall of white shirts.
The best move of the half by the Mariners came in the 40th minute when Zwaanswijk, finding himself free in midfield, surged into nosebleed territory for a central defender, slipped a delightful ball through to Bernie Ibini-Isei. Alas Bernie's curling shot across goal toward the right far post was palmed away by glovesman Tyson, for a corner. A shot on target 2 minutes later by Bojic that was easily taken saw out the half.
Revved up by Arnie at the break the home side came out with more pace in delivery.
McGlinchey made a run down the right in the 51st minute and cut the ball square to Bernie, who paced into the area but his shot was saved. Six minutes later Amini took a run down the left side, and squared to Olly Bozanic whose stinging shot was on target but saved and the follow up went wide.
Then the sniper in the Masterfoods Blimp took aim. James Brown went left and tracked by Bojic he tumbled on the turf. Well behind play referee Ryan Shepheard drew a yellow card from his pocket much to the amazement on Bojic's face. Much also to the derision from the large crowd when the scoreboard showed a replay of Brown over a metre away from any contact. Luckily the decision didn't lead to a goal, as the free-kick was headed away.
The game was getting pretty much to a stalemate; though on a few occasions something happened. Rigters taking a rare run, beating Rose, then Wilkinson, but failing to make a telling shot. A looping header from the home side, failing to worry the 'keeper.
It seemed to come back to life after some substitutions by Arnold. First though a through ball past a defensive line pushing up found James Brown free as a bird, and with the sniper having gone home early, he kept his feet. Mariners goalkeeper Matt Ryan kept his head, coming out fast to gather.
Hearfield made a run into the area, but the ball was pushed wide and his shot could not be made.
Matt Simon had a quiet game (perhaps the impact of his signing to Korea) and was held well by the speedy Ben Halloran and unusually tidy Zac Anderson, while Michael Thwaite played the Bernie Ibini-Isei threat very smartly. In the 86th minute Simon got onto a through ball but before he could shoot Dylan McGowan interceded.
The best chance of the game came in the 88th minute when Hearfield was sent away, and got the ball to Bozanic free in the area - but his volley was powered over the crossbar. A chance to Hearfield and a weak shot by McGlinchey and the Mariners saw two points and chance of a more commanding league table lead disappear.
"We knew it was going to be a day of trying to break them down," Mariners coach Graham Arnold said after the game. " ... danger was on the counter-attack. We had to make sure we kept a number of players behind the ball. "It's what we looked at during the week and what we were worried about." The draw extended Central Coast's unbeaten run in this A-League season to 10 matches. "Overall I'm very proud of the boys," Arnold added. "2011 has been a fantastic year".
He will have Matt Simon at his disposal for Wednesday night's hosting of out of form Melbourne Victory but will be without key defender Patrick Zwaanswijk who picked up another soft yellow.
Wily Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg had done his homework, and would be pleased with a point against the in-form team of the competition and equally thrilled with the manner of their performance despite staying just bottom of the table, albeit . They are now four games undefeated and have not conceded a goal in 380 minutes of play.