A strike in the 74th minute from Fabio Ferreira was enough to hand the Central Coast Mariners a narrow 1-0 victory over Melbourne City.
The home side had a strong start to the game as Isaka Cernak managed to find space down the right and carve out an opening to fire a strike at goal which just went past the post.
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Melbourne hit back as Josh Kennedy headed at goal from close range, but was denied by a great save from Liam Reddy, while Patrick Kisnorbo was alert to the danger on the rebound to clear the ball as the striker tried to react.
Minutes later, Kennedy caused problems again as he cut in from the left flank and tried to curl the ball beyond the reach of Reddy, but the keeper palmed the ball behind for corner.
In the second half, Ferreira was presented with a great chance to hand his side the lead as he was played through one-on-one with Tando Velaphi, but the forward could only blast his effort over the bar.
The Mariners were increasing the pressure on the City goal and should have taken the lead when Ferreira lifted the ball into the box for Nick Fitzgerald, but the striker failed to beat Velaphi from six yards with a free header.
However, the home side got their goal with a neatly-worked free kick as Eddy Bosnar dummied the ball, allowing Ferreira to rifle an effort through the wall and past Velaphi into the net.
Melbourne tried to get back in the game late on, but were unable to find a breakthrough as the Mariners held out for the victory.
Simon Sinclair
