MORE GLOOM FOR BROADBEACH

Broadbeach Utd 2 (N. Uchimura, P Hatwell)

Nerang 3 (D. McKinnon, L. Mutemba 2)

HT 1:1

BROADBEACH United slipped to their fourth consecutive defeat after going down 3-2 at home to hot and cold Nerang.

It’s been a turbulent time for United of late and their cause wasn’t helped in this encounter when after just 20 minutes they were reduced to ten men following Tony Hughes’ somewhat harsh dismissal.

Despite Adam Hayward’s tenth minute missed penalty Nerang led 1-0 at the time of the red card thanks to Danny McKinnon’s fortuitous opener, but Broadbeach were threatening to draw level as they endeavoured to arrest their form slump.

The equaliser did arrive just past the midway point of the half when Japanese striker Nori Uchimura tore through the Nerang rearguard and made no mistake with his finish.

The stalemate held until 15 minutes from time when Levy Mutemba restored Nerang’s lead and put his side back on course to register their first win in four games.

Mutemba’s run left-wing run led him to the penalty area where he cut back inside the Nerang defence and slammed the ball home from an acute angle.

Chris Broadfoot almost restored parity immediately but his free-kick from just outside the box was well saved by Jamie Irwin.

Irwin couldn’t rescue his side just a couple of minutes later though when after a long throw into the box Paul Hatwell pounced on Nerang’s defensive uncertainty and knocked in the equaliser for 2-2.

The goal should have been enough for United to secure at least a point but three minutes later Adam Hayward made up for his early penalty miss when his near-post header from Mutemba’s cross won it for Nerang.

“We’re in a bit of a relegation problem at the moment,” admitted Broadbeach coach Simon Kalaba.

“We’ve got a lot of games coming up but we’re running out of time. I can’t fault the lads as they did everything possible after going down to ten men, but we can’t buy a win at the moment,” he added.