Skilled Park
Attendance: 10,336
Fulham’s pre-season tour of Australia got off to a disappointing start last night as they lost to A-League newcomers Gold Coast United at Skilled Park. An early goal from the evergreen Danny Murphy and some heroics from local hero Mark Scwarzer kept Fulham ahead until the break, but the second half belonged to the Australian side.
The Coast came out for the second period with all guns blazing and with Pascal Zuberbuhler replacing Schwarzer Fulham suddenly looked more vulnerable. Michael Thwaite headed against a post after 56 minutes and Fulham’s players appeared to be tiring in the Queensland heat.
Zuberhbuhler was again at fault as he failed to deal with a Smeltz header from a Jason Culina cross which allowed Brazilian Milson to power home the equaliser with ten minutes to go. Fulham looked to be holding on before the struggling Shane Smeltz roused himself to fire past the outstretched Fulham goalkeeper and send the home fans into rapture.