Mitchelton kept their top four hopes alive and spoiled the Brisbane Strikers' Mighty Month of May when they took all three points from tonight's Round 11 Premier League match at Perry Park.

In a match that began quietly but became mired in controversy, Mitchelton ran out 2-1 winners over a home side that once again fell victim to a syndrome of not producing their best form against teams positioned well below them on the league table.

The Strikers were again missing the services of target man Greg Di Losa, and left winger Eli Gilfedder was another who could not make it into the starting eleven, courtesy of a virus that laid him low this week. Once again, Strikers coach Bobby Hamilton used nominal defender Adam Webber to plug the considerable gap left by Di Losa, while Ross Cunneen started in place of Gilfedder.

For the first ten or fifteen minutes of the game neither team really looked as if it had turned up to play. Except for a bad fumble by Mitchelton goalkeeper Ben Wicks that presented Matt Hornby with an opportunity that he blasted over the bar in the sixth minute, there was very little to remark upon until the seventeenth minute. This saw Wicks redeem himself when a long throw-in taken from the left tested the Mitchelton defence, which coughed up an opportunity for Webber. Webber pounced but saw his well-struck shot blocked by Wicks, who got up in time to also block Michael Butters' effort to put away the rebound.

With Mitchelton having survived this early scare, the match meandered for another ten minutes or so while the Strikers went through a phase of poor ball retention, accompanied by a spell of dropping off far too deep behind the ball to put any real pressure on the Mitchelton midfielders. Jason Roberts, Josh Smith and Michael Christiansen in that area were able to enjoy some comfortable possession, but they failed to use it in any way that really threatened the Strikers' back four of Matt Bell, Daniel Leach, Michael Zullo and Ross Duncan.

But in the thirtieth minute the home side snapped out of its slumber when Matt Bell drove forward from the back to place a slide-rule pass into the path of Webber, who held off the Mitchelton defence while he ran the ball down the inside right channel before finding Butters, who had come infield on a well-timed run, with a perfectly placed cut-back pass. Butters was unattended and had time to measure his shot but, with the goal gaping, his side-footed finish finished wide of Wicks' right-hand upright as the home team's supporters' celebratory shouts died in their throats.

A minute later Damien Waugh won a high ball in midfield to send it in the direction of Hornby, who then forced it on to Webber who had the measure of his defender as he ran towards goal. Webber unleashed another low shot but, unfortunately for the makeshift striker, Wicks once again denied him - this time with a smart save low to his left.

At this stage of the game the home side were doing much better at keeping possession and beginning to get on top, and it was notable that Mitchelton had not yet managed a shot on goal. And then, in the thirty-third minute, the home side produced a goal that took up where last week''s extraordinary thirteen-pass third goal against Taringa Rovers had left off.

Once again, Zullo was intimately involved in things, starting off and helping to continue a move that began on the left side of the Strikers' penalty area. The passing movement involved defenders, midfielders and strikers, before Cunneen was brought into play down the left wing. Once again, Cunneen was the last Strikers player to get his foot to the ball but on this occasion it was to produce a low cross which found a Mitchelton defender (probably Matt Suleau) under heavy pressure from Hornby and in two minds about what to do with the problem. The solution he unfortunately came up with was to direct it past his 'keeper and low into the corner of his net to give the home side the lead.

Mitcheltoon soon replaced Matteo Amabile with Josh Condon, who got the unenviable job of shadowing Webber, who was posing plenty of questions for the Mitchelton defence with his energetic and enthusiastic running and his ability to hold the ball up.

But while the Strikers were well on top at this stage, they had only themselves to blame for presenting Mitchelton with a way back into the game in the thirty-ninth minute. While in midfield about thirty metres out from the Strikers goal Waugh got himself under a high ball and apparently attempted to volley it upfield behind him, but instead miscued it and sent it towards the Strikers penalty area where Richard Iwai followed it in towards Hall. The Strikers' keeper, unable to handle the ball in case Waugh's effort was construed as a back-pass, was reduced to having to contest a header against Iwai. While he did enough to win the ball he was unable to keep possession and, having left his line, it was left to Daniel Leach to head a goalbound shot off the line.

However this was just a momentary reprieve because, when a high ball was swung back in from the left to the penalty area Iwai, under apparently quite gentle pressure from Bell, went to ground with a grunt that would have graced a Wimbledon tennis court. Referee Richard Cootes responded by blowing his whistle and pointing to the penalty spot, much to the surprise and disgust of the home side's supporters. While Hall then guessed correctly and dived to his right, he was unable to keep out Damian Pilat's spot kick and the scores were tied at 1-1.

This was the scoreline when the teams went to the break, but when hostilities resumed the Strikers were first into stride as they won a free kick twenty metres out from goal, from which Waugh struck a left-footed grass-cutter that had Wicks nervously diving at the foot of his near post for a shot that finished centimetres wide.

A minute later Wicks was in the action again. This time the ball was played to Webber who was positioned inside the eighteen yard box with his back to goal. With Condon hanging all over him, Webber spun around and hit another low shot that Wicks did extremely well to react to, diving low to his right to keep Webber out for the second time.

Hamilton was then obliged to go to his bench to bring on Gilfedder for Cunneen, who limped off after appearing to injure himself when passing a routine ball out on the left without a defender in close attendance.

In the sixtieth minute Webber, who was having an impressive game and growing in confidence in his new role, cut inside his defender on the right and threaded a through-ball into the path of Hornby who took the ball around Wicks to the byline and cut the ball back for Gilfedder, who spurned the opportunity by blasting over the top.

With the chances, and the misses, mounting up for the home side it was almost inevitable that something would go wrong at the other end. And so it did when, in the sixty-fifth minute, a raid down Mitchelton's left wing finished with Andrew Balzat cutting in and working time and space for himself to line up a shot from the edge of the Strikers' eighteen yard box in centre-field. Balzat struck the shot well, curling it above and beyond the reach of Hall but against the underside of the crossbar. The ball bounced back into the field of play but the referee's assistant signalled immediately that it had crossed the line and the home side was suddenly behind, much against the run of play.

A few minutes after this reversal, with the Strikers on the hunt for an equaliser, Webber went on a run towards goal in which he took on three defenders. He beat two and was on his way around the third and into the penalty area when he went down heavily. The home side's supporters, mindful that it was the tackle of the 'last man' that appeared to have brought Webber crashing to earth, appealed for a red card or a penalty, or both. Instead, Cootes brought out a yellow card - which he showed to the stunned Webber, apparently for diving. This all happened right in front of the Strikers supporters in the southern end of the Waddell stand who had witnessed in much the same area what they thought was a soft penalty given against Bell earlier in the match. Needless to say, those supporters were livid and inclined to make their thoughts clearly known to the match official.

In the seventy-first minute misfortune was piled onto insult when Drinkeld was played into space inside the Mitchelton penalty area to fire a shot past Wicks but against his right hand upright. The ball bounced back into the field of play towards Gilfedder, who could not keep his volley down and again fired it over the bar.

The home side were attacking in waves now and Butters, working down the right, was the next Striker to play a team mate in behind the Mitchelton defence. This time it was Hornby who took it to the by-line before cutting it back straight to Webber who was only about eight metres out from goal, directly in front. But with the home side's supporters again on their feet ready to celebrate a goal, Webber's shot was deflected over the top by a desperate lunge by a Mitchelton defender and the away side breathed another sigh of relief.

In the eighty-first minute Mitchelton managed another raid, this time down their right wing. When the ball was worked back towards the edge of the Strikers' eighteen yard box, some untidy defending resulted in a Mitchelton player again hitting the deck, and Cootes awarded his second penalty for a foul by, again, the cursed Bell. Once more, the home side's supporters erupted in fury but perhaps on this occasion they had less to get excited about.

They got excited again when the spot-kick was taken, however, because Hall produced a fine save at full stretch to his right to keep his side alive in the contest.

A minute later, though, the save could have been rendered pointless when the Strikers found themselves over-committed in search of an equalizer and Mitchelton counter attacked. An excellent pass out of midfield found Iwai, who had been left unattended on the left. But when presented with a clear run towards goal the Mitchelton striker hurried his shot and lifted it high over the bar.

The home side were doing most of the pressing as the clock wound down, but after Butters got his head to a dipping Gilfedder cross to send it a metre wide of goal, Mitchelton again took advantage of a lack of numbers at the back for the home team when in the eighty-sixth minute Balzat neatly volleyed a high ball from the right back across the face of the Strikers' penalty area to provide Christiansen with a good look at goal. The tall midfielder, who had shown a great deal of composure and a touch of class with his neat passing throughout the match, rather spoiled things by failing to hit the target with his first-time shot when he really should have drawn a save out of Hall.

With the Strikers now throwing themselves into a desperate search for a late equaliser Zullo, who had been thrust forward into the midfield, went on a run down the right before squaring a ball to Waugh. The tall midfielder was about twenty-five metres out but had time to size up the situation before sending a firm, but certainly not overly-powerful, low drive towards Wicks' goal. The Mitchelton keeper made a fumbling mess of things as he dived on it, and failed to hold the shot, but got away with it because there were no yellow shirts following in Waugh's shot.

But the home side still were not finished, and in the third minute of injury time they won a corner kick from which Gilfedder sent a looping outswinger towards the edge of the six yard box. Mitchelton won the jump for the ball but it was headed out only as far as Drinkeld, whose left-footed volley from the edge of the box was struck sweetly enough but too high, finishing a metre over the bar.

That was the last chance for the home side to retrieve something from the contest, which ended soon after to the jubilation of the visiting team and their supporters and the frustration of the home team's fans, who were inclined to view the match officials with something less than affection.

But aside from the controversy surrounding the decisions of the men in black, there were other factors to consider in what produced the result. Mitchelton must be given some credit for playing well in patches, even if they spent the majority of the last hour under the pump as they fought to contain a home side who, had they managed a reasonable conversion rate of their chances, could and should have scored three or four goals.

Perhaps, in the end, it should be acknowledged that while Mitchelton's 'keeper Wicks had several moments of uncertainty, he produced two excellent saves (including a double save) from the unfortunate Webber that made all the difference for his side in the end.

The home side can take some comfort from the fact that, after a poor first half hour, their go-forward game was good enough to carve out half a dozen excellent opportunities. But Bobby Hamilton must be offering up a few prayers to the Gods of football that he can get some fit specialist forwards on the park very soon so that Webber's talents can be used at the back where his team was less than convincing tonight, and so that the low conversion rate that has dogged much of the first half of his side's season can be improved.

Brisbane Strikers 1 (o.g., Suleau 33) v Mitchelton 2 (Pilat, pen., 39; Balzat, 65)