Gold Coast come back to draw with Glory

Perth Glory coughed up a golden chance to beat A-League favourites Gold Coast United
after the visitors fought back to salvage a 2-2 draw at ME Bank Stadium on Sunday.
The Glory started brilliantly with goals in the 14th and 16th minutes to Branko
Jelic and Victor Sikora, but Gold Coast hit back after halftime through Bas van den
Brink and prolific striker Shane Smeltz equalised right on 90 minutes.
Perth looked to have done enough but, with seconds ticking by, Amaral gave away a
free kick, Steve Pantelidis delivered the ball hard into the box for Smeltz to
capitalise and score his ninth goal of the season.
Both Smeltz and Glory goalkeeper Tando Velaphi left the pitch for the last minute
with injuries, forcing Jamie Harnwell to take the gloves for Perth, but it mattered
little as both teams played out their first draw of the season.
Perth's first goal came to Jelic in the 14th minute.
With plenty of space in the box, Mile Sterjovski slid a terrific pass out in front
of the charging Jelic, who had the easy job of slotting home his third goal of the
season.
Just two minutes later the Glory added another when Naum Sekulovski put in another
great pass to set up Sikora, who had no trouble getting clear of Gold Coast's
defence and sliding a shot past Higgins.
Late in the half Gold Coast star Jason Culina started finding some ball and in the
38th minute set up van den Brink beautifully from a corner, but his header wasn't
quite on target.
It was all Gold Coast to start the second half.
A header from Kristian Rees was saved tremendously by Velaphi, but another Culina
corner proved dangerous and was headed in van den Brink after taking a deflection of
Perth's Jacob Burns.
Perth worked their way back into control and had two golden chances to go back up by
two goals with 15 minutes remaining.
Jelic delivered a fierce shot, but Higgins got down low to block and the second was
another great strike by Wayne Srhoj and this time Higgins punched it away.
Those saves kept Gold Coast alive and despite time fading away, they kept plugging
away to earn the equaliser and the ire of the Perth fans with some over-the-top
celebrations.