A late Angel Torres goal has helped Central Coast to a 2-1 win over Melbourne City and extend the Mariners’ unbeaten run in the A-League Men to nine games.
Torres popped up with an 87th-minute winner at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford to move the Mariners up to fourth spot on the table.
Tempers boiled over in the dying moments of added time on a humid Sunday evening, with referee Adam Kersey issuing Mariners defender Storm Roux with a red card after a touchline fracas.
But the late blemish will do little to overshadow the Mariners' impressive run under Mark Jackson.
While their free-flowing attack is winning plenty of plaudits, the home side performed a fantastic job of nullifying a City side spearheaded by Jamie Maclaren in their grand final rematch.
"We knew it was going to be tough and we've got a lot of respect for their manager and how they play," Jackson said.
"But we always have confidence in our ability as a team and we stayed mentally switched on.
"I'm really proud of the players, of the performance, that togetherness."
City barely mustered an attack in the first half.
The only time they were able to call Danny Vukovic into action came when a Leo Natel deflection made its way into the Mariners' box.
At the other end, the Mariners were looking much more menacing.
Goalkeeper Jamie Young did incredibly well to deny Alou Kuol from close range, and the City No.1 breathed a sigh of relief when Torres’s follow-up effort cannoned off the crossbar.
But City couldn’t keep a lid on Kuol, who played Josh Nisbet in behind soon after the break with a well-weighted pass.
Nisbet squared to an on-rushing Christian Theoharous, who fired the ball beyond Young’s reach to put the Mariners 1-0 up after 50 minutes.
City immediately went up the other end and Vukovic was able to come up with two superb saves to deny Maclaren.
Attacking midfielder Tolgay Arslan forced Vukovic to parry a low-driven effort away to safety, before the Mariners’ defence eventually cracked when Steven Ugarkovic hit home from the edge of the box.
Maclaren fluffed one late opportunity to give his side the winner, but Torres had no such issues, firing past Young just before full-time to clinch victory.
"I think a draw would have been a fair result," said City boss Aurelio Vidmar.
"It was sort of touch-and-go first half, and then I think we controlled a fair bit of that second half and had a had some really nice momentum.
"The ball wasn't sort of bouncing our way but (we) got back to one each and then unfortunately we conceded that second goal, so it was a little bit unjust in my opinion."
