Robbie Fowler hailed North Queensland's fighting spirit after the Fury came from behind for the second week in a row to secure a 1-1 draw with Central Coast at Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday.Matt Simon's goal after just 14 seconds looked to have the Mariners coasting towards victory before Daniel McBreen headed an equaliser from Fowler's corner in the 75th minute to earn a share of the points.
It was the third time in four matches the Fury had come from a goal down to earn a draw, much to the delight of Fowler and coach Ian Ferguson.
"That fact is that we've not lost again shows that we're out there fighting for each other," Fowler said.
"We're not kidding ourselves, we'd like to turn these draws into wins, but if you can't get wins then the next best things is getting draws.
"We're doing our best to not get defeats and I think the way we're playing, if we stop giving away stupid goals and shooting ourselves in the foot at the start, we're going to cause problems for a few teams."
The result left the Fury in last place, but only one point behind Newcastle and Wellington, and also gave Ferguson a share of the honours against former mentor Lawrie McKinna, whom he assisted for four years at the Mariners.
Ferguson played down the fact he was facing his old club, instead preferring to focus on his new club turning their draws into wins.
"I'd love to be in a position where we're one or two up at halftime instead of saying to the boys, 'we're still in this'," Ferguson said.
"But credit to these boys, they give us their all every game and we're getting that reputation for being competitive, workmanlike, but they can play as well."
The 8000-odd Central Coast fans had barely taken their seats before the Mariners took the lead, with Simon pouncing to intercept a dreadful backpass from Chris Tadrosse just after the kick-off, before beating off a challenge from John Tambouras and unleashing a great finish from a tight angle.
It was his fourth of the season and the second-fastest goal ever scored in the A-League, behind only Louis Brain's 10-second effort for Adelaide United in the 2005/06 season.
The contest fizzled out in the dreary conditions, with chances few and few between for the most part.
McBreen had the better of his side's chances before making one count when he leapt above Andrew Clark to head home on the inside post with 15 minutes to go.
The Mariners, who were without key midfielders John Hutchinson and Michael McGlinchey due to international duty, failed to respond, ensuring they remained in fifth spot.
"I didn't think we deserved to win today," McKinna said.
"The first 20 minutes was good and then we just slowly took our foot off the pedal."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,26194856-23215,00.html There's highlights on that same page as the link but it may not work if your outside of Oz.
