Bleiberg `needs miracle` to beat Victory

He's got the gift of the gab and Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg will need to
use all of his motivational powers for Saturday's A-League match against Melbourne.
Three of his players are suspended - though Dutch defender Bas Van Den Brink's four
game ban is under review - and another six are injured, leaving Bleiberg with just
one specialist central defender in Michael Thwaite to take on the table-topping
Victory at Etihad Stadium.
Bleiberg has had to rule a line through his three Brazilians, Robson, Jefferson and
Milson as well Daniel Piorkowski, Richard Greer and Ivory Coast attacking fullback
Adama Traore.
It's severely disrupted his build-up with only 13 senior players able to train,
forcing him to turn to the club's youth stocks.
Defensive trio Zac Anderson, Ben Wearing and Stephen Topalovic, young forward Golgol
Mebrahtu and Youth League captain Steven Lustica are all expected to be included in
a preliminary 18-man squad, which will be cut to 15 when the team heads to Melbourne
on Friday.
"Miron will have to put some square pegs in a few round holes," said a Gold Coast
official.
"Sometimes in the face of adversity miracles do happen but we will be underdogs."
The only clash between the two clubs ended in uproar when Melbourne captain Kevin
Muscat converted a retaken penalty to snatch a late 2-1 win.
After an embarrassing 4-0 flogging by Central Coast at home, Melbourne scored a 1-0
win over Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium when exciting young goalkeeper Mitch
Langerak pulled off a number of impressive saves in his A-League debut.
Langerak, from Emerald in Queensland, got the call up from Victory coach Ernie
Merrick against Brisbane after regular `keeper, Kiwi international Glen Moss, had
leaked 13 goals - seven in two games.
The 21 year-old grabbed his opportunity with both hands with a polished performance,
finishing with only the third clean sheet for the club this season and the first in
their past eight games.