A-League: Gold Coast 3 Central Coast 3

Gold Coast United went close to pulling off the upset of the season after drawing 3-3 with A-League leaders Central Coast on Wednesday.

Rank outsiders before the match following the ugly sacking of coach Miron Bleiberg and chairman Clive Palmer’s verbal stoush with the FFA, the embattled bottom-placed club were expected to roll over with ease.

But nobody told interim coach Mike Mulvey and his band of youngsters, who they went ballistic in a stunning display against the competition’s pacesetters.

Going 3-1 up after second-gamer Mitch Cooper scored early in the first half, United looked genuinely good value for a shock victory.

However the Mariners tucked away two late goals, with Adam Kwasnik their driving force, to avoid an embarrassing defeat in front of 1141 fans at Robina.

It took the Mariners just four minutes to breach Gold Coast’s defence, with Kwasnik on the spot with a simple tap-in after Tom Rogic’s cross took a deflection off Zac Anderson.

But United returned serve five minutes later, when a marauding run from the lively Golgol Mebrahtu earned the home side a penalty.

After fighting his way into the box the forward was clipped by Rostyn Griffiths, and Chris Harold made no mistake converting the spot kick for his second ever A-League goal.

As good as Mebrahtu’s move was, he was shown up in the 17th minute when rising star Ben Halloran scored a sure-fire contender for goal of the season.

From just inside United’s attacking half, Halloran showed incredible acceleration and poise to bolt though the Mariners defensive line, leaving Alex Wilkinson and Patrick Zwaanswijk in his dust.

Letting rip from the top of the box, Central Coast custodian Justin Pasfield got a hand on his shot but it was not enough to deny Halloran an absolute peach of a goal – his fourth for the season.

Gold Coast extended their lead 11 minutes after the break when Mitch Cooper got his name on the scoresheet.

The one-time captain shaped for his close-range shot with two terrific touches after Halloran slipped him the ball, and his neat finish sparked wild celebrations.

But United were denied a rare win when the Mariners equalised with two goals in the space of eight minutes.

First, substitute Bernie Ibini got one back for the visitors on 59 minutes after Thwaite coughed up possession and was made to pay for it.

Then Kwasnik completed his brace by taking advantage of more lacklustre defending from the home side with his 66th minute header to level the scores at three goals apiece.