Star substitute Harrison Steele has launched Central Coast to a 3-1 triumph over fierce rivals Newcastle, but their A-League Men premiership chase will still go down to the wire after Wellington won their simultaneous fixture.
Determined to avoid a draw at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday, Steele gave the Mariners a 2-1 buffer in the 82nd minute, before Ryan Edmondson extended the lead five minutes later with a quality header.
The Mariners will now focus on their rescheduled match against Adelaide on Wednesday to secure their third premiers plate, after league leaders Wellington consolidated their hold on top spot with a 3-0 drubbing of Macarthur across the Tasman on the same day.
Sitting one point adrift of the ‘Nix, Mark Jackson’s men must at least draw against the Reds.
“If we’d said at the start of the season if we could be in a position on our home ground with the last game of the season being ‘we need a point to win the league’, we would’ve taken that,” Jackson said.
“We’ve had ups and downs throughout the season (travel for AFC Cup matches, winless after three games), whether they’ve been publicized or not, and we’ve dealt with them.
“Whatever we chuck in front of our players… we take it in our stride.”
Both sides wasted no time to settle into the game on a slippery pitch with more than the F3 Derby Trophy at stake.
The game opened up for the Mariners in the 21st minute when Alou Kuol danced his way through Jets defenders Phillip Cancar and Carl Jenkinson to slot a brilliant individual goal – his first since New Year’s Eve.
Powerhouse goalscorer Apostolos Stamatelopoulos then stung the visitors with a cool header in the 47th minute to level the scores, following a superbly weighted cross by Clayton Taylor.
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Substitute Ronald Barcello was left kicking himself when his attempt on goal deflected off Callum Timmins in the 75th minute.
Steele, who came on in the 71st minute to replace Bradley Tapp, then silenced the Jets faithful when his attempt found the back of the net after the ball ricocheted off Timmins.
The 21-year-old was left in disbelief, having scored his second-ever goal since debuting in 2021.
Central Coast had been lucky to finish the first half with a one-goal lead after Daniel Hall avoided giving away a penalty in the opening 10 minutes.
Hall raised his arm and caught the ball to Shepherd Taylor in front of goal, but VAR found the incident did not warrant a penalty given his arm was just outside the box.
Saturday’s outing was Jason Hoffman’s 300th and last A-League Men appearance after the Newcastle stalwart announced his retirement on Friday.
