Adrian Segecic has come off the bench and scored a hat-trick to fire Sydney FC to a 4-1 win over Central Coast and into the A-League Men top six.
With the scores one goal apiece at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, the hosts looked to have fluffed their best opportunity to jump ahead after Segecic sent the ball wide despite an open goal in the 67th minute.
But the substitute found his redemption five minutes later, adding the finishing touches to a brilliant through-ball from Anthony Caceres for the lead.
The 20-year-old remained relentless and pursued Trent Sainsbury in their attacking half, forcing the Mariners captain to give up possession before taking the battle to defender Brian Kaltak.
Fellow Sydney substitute Pat Wood flicked the ball towards goal and Segecic read the play better than the experienced Mariners defensive duo, burying the ball in the 83rd minute to settle the match.
Segecic then completed his hat-trick in added time for the cherry on top, before being shown a yellow card for taking off his shirt in his celebrations.
Socceroos coach Tony Popovic was among those in the stands, mulling a replacement for injured defender Harry Souttar ahead of their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Indonesia and China in March.
Ufuk Talay's men are now fifth on the table and extend their undefeated streak to five games.
"Adrian's been fantastic since day one. His mentality, his attitude, has been sensational for us," Talay said.
"We don't talk about 'go out there and score three goals', he did, but you know, he's just playing in the right areas."
While the reigning champions remain ninth with only three wins so far, Central Coast coach Mark Jackson refused to rule out finals.
"We were in the game for long periods," Jackson said.
"There were lots of aspects I was happy with, particularly that first-half performance.
"Our objective is just to finish up as high up at the top of the league as we can.
"If that takes us into the playoffs and then so be it."
After being kept from adding his name to the scoresheet in their midweek fixture against Perth for being offside, Patryk Klimala opened the scoring in the 11th minute.
At the source of the goal was their midweek hat-trick hero Joe Lolley, who cleverly spotted the wide run of Joel King down the left wing.
King, having lured Mariners keeper Dylan Peraic-Cullen towards his side, then sent the ball across the face to Klimala on the far post.
The visitors found their equaliser just before halftime via a game of ping-pong in the box.
Earning a free kick after King downed Sainsbury, Mikael Doka released to Alfie McCalmont, whose kick then bounced off a number of Sydney defenders.
Harrison Steele was the quickest to react in the congested penalty area and his attempt came off the head of Klimala and over the glove of goalkeeper Harrison Devenish-Meares in the 40th minute.
