Central Coast has qualified for its second Hyundai A-League grand final after a thrilling 3-0 extra-time major semi-final win over Newcastle in front of 19,112 fans at Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday night.

The Mariners won the two-leg major semi-final 3-2 after scoring three unanswered goals in the second leg on Sunday.

Sasho Petrovski scored two goals for the Mariners including the semi-final winner in the fifth minute of extra-time.

After Newcastle won the first leg of the major semi-final 2-0 Central Coast went into the second leg needing two goals to draw level.

And they squared the ledger after goals to Adam Kwasnik in the 37th minute and Petrovski in the 73rd.

Petrovski’s semi-final winner came five minutes into the 30-minute period of extra time.

John Hutchinson provided a good ball for Petrovski who cut inside the last defender and fired his shot into the right side of the net.

Newcastle wing back Matt Thompson did his best to steal the game for the Jets when he fired a powerful shot into the hands of Central Coast goalkeeper Danny Vukovic in the 12th minute of extra-time.

The Jets continued to pressure the Central Coast goal but the Mariners kept them out to book a place in the grand final at Sydney Football Stadium on February 24.

Newcastle now play Queensland in the preliminary final at EnergyAustralia Stadium next Sunday for the other grand final spot.

The Mariners had few chances early in the match before Kwasnik scored a freak goal to set the game alight in the 37th minute.

Kwasnik cut inside two Jets defenders on the left sideline and took a shot from just inside the 18-yard box that deflected off the sliding foot of Jets defender Tarek Elrich and dipped into the top left corner of the net.

The goal lifted the Mariners.

Joel Griffiths, the A-League’s leading goal scorer, had Newcastle’s only other first half scoring opportunity in the 18th minute when he received a neat pass from Mark Bridge but his shot went straight to Vukovic.

The Mariners suffered early set-backs when defender Alvin Ceccoli left the field with a toe injury in the 28th minute and four minutes later Tom Pondeljak limped off with a knee injury.

Ceccoli was brought down in a clumsy tackle by the Jets Korean debutant Jin-Hyung Song who received a yellow card for the tackle.

Nine minutes into the second half Newcastle had a golden opportunity to score an equaliser when midfielder James Holland slipped in front of goal after Griffiths put it on the spot for him.

Mariners substitute Andre Gumprecht went close to extending the lead of the home side when he drove a low ball just left of goal in the 64th minute.

Petrovski also narrowly missed the left post in the 69th goal before finding the net four minutes later.

It was Gumprecht who put the ball through for Petrovski to make no mistake with his strike into the left of the net from inside 10 metres in the 73rd minute.

Both sides had a couple of shots each in the remaining 20 minutes of ordinary time but couldn’t prevent the match from heading into extra-time.

Newcastle Jets have taken a major step in reaching their first grand final as the Griffiths brothers both scored vital goals in a 2-0 win in front of a capacity crowd in Newcastle, which saw several thousand Mariners supporters make the trip up the F3 highway, making this a true derby game.

There are many talking points but perhaps the most obvious is that the Jets scored from their penalty, the Mariners missed theirs and in a game of such small margins this was a big telling point.

The Jets had Musialik starting the game and Adam Griffiths returning from suspension as did Petrovski for the Mariners.

The Jets showed their intentions early Hearfield fired a shot that has Vukovic saving on 20 seconds of play. The CCM response and Pondeljak is almost through but North intercepts.

On 9 minutes Boogaard fouls J.Griffiths who takes the fee kick but his 25 meter effort is saved by Vukovic.

The Mariners almost take the lead on 14 minutes Kwasnik finds Petrovski with a brilliant cross his lopping header is goal bound, it beats Covic but North runs back to clear of the line with a brilliant defensive header.

The Mariners win three successive corners and Hutchinson finds Wilkinson whose near post header is wide.

The Jets respond and against the run of play Thomson finds Holland whose cross is met brilliantly by a Adam Griffiths diving header the ball fly’s into the near post back of the net and the home fans go crazy, its 1-0 Jets on 22 minutes.

The CCM very quickly have a chance to level, North who was having a great game raises his foot on Petrovski inside the penalty area, there is contact and Breeze correctly gives a spot kick, Aloisi lines up the kick but unlike against Uruguay he misses, his low shot is wide of the upright and Covic is diving the wrong way.

The Jets quickly break down field and Joel finds his brother Adam who heads just over the cross bar.

On 39 minutes a Pondeljak corner finds Hutchinson in space outside the penalty area his long shot is tipped over the cross bar by Covic. Then Petrovski cleverly finds space on the edge of the area despite having two defenders on him he is able to fire on goal, his effort is just over the cross bar.

Its end to end stuff as Musialik fires from 30 meters it ends up just over the cross bar.

The first half ends in dramatic fashion, Durrante fouls Pondeljak on the edge of the area, Aloisi blast’s the free kick past the wall and against the upright, the ball bounces across the face of the goal but not over the line, the ball is then eventually passed to Kwasnik who crosses, the ball finds Aloisi, he fires home with his left foot and runs to celebrate in front of the Mariners fans who stand to celebrate, but the goal is disallowed for offside, sadly replays reveal Aloisi was indeed on side, Aloisi is totally frustrated.

The second half commences with a Kwasnik long range effort that is wide. Pondeljak also tries one but Covic saves and its all the Mariners as a Petrovski overhead kick is over the cross bar.

On the hour it’s Joel Griffiths who is stopped from shooting, then he is forced wide and his shot easily saved as the Jets break.

On 73 minutes Petrovski is through on goal but rather then shot for goal he elects to pass to Aloisi and the Jets clear.

The turning point (well there were so many) comes in the 83rd minute, Gumprecht finds Simon unmarked in front of goal but he hits it straight at Covic. One minute later and Gumprecht fouls Hoffman in the penalty area, Breeze again gets it right, a spot kick and Joel Griffiths at the same end where Aloisi missed, this time scores, its 2-0 Jets.

It finished 2-0, the result was harsh on the Mariners who deserved more from the game. The 2nd leg of the Major Semi-final will be played on Sunday 10 February 2008 at Bluetongue Stadium, in Gosford.

Back of the Net

With a 2-1 loss to their ‘F3 derby’ rivals Newcastle Jets, the Mariners season has becalmed and they are still bailing just short of the line whilst the Jets swooped in to seal a finals berth in a closely fought game.

The home side went into this game with only 1 point from the last 9 and although leading the table they really needed a win here to get a hand on the Premiers plate, but did not deliver.

The Mariners have been consistently conceding soft early goals and this wasn’t to be any different as ‘the Coastie that got away’, Budgewoi boy James Holland, fired in a 6th minute goal right in front of the Mariners ’supporters’.

With the Coast defence narrowed and men committed forward for an earlier attack, Denni found space on the right and sent over a cross into the middle. Paul O’Grady tried some sort of cow-kick instead of moving quicker to meet the ball fully and it skewed around him off his rear-end. Young former Mariner Holland lept into action and poked it with his left to the far post, past Coast ‘keeper Danny Vukovic. 0-1

The casual approach to defensive work by the home team continued with a lazy back pass by Andrew Clark being scooped up by an alert Joel Griffiths, and it was only Clarke’s speed and covering work by Vukovic that saved red faces.

It all seemed forgiven in the 9th minute when it was the turn of the Jets defence to go to sleep. Adam Kwasnik, given a rare recent start, received the ball on the left flank and proceeded to almost amble forward as he does, and as an overlap by John Hutchinson took marker Jade North away, he cut inside. He strugged off a half-hearted challenge by Denni, then one by Adam D’Apuzzo. As Tarek Elrich raced to cover, Kwasnik looked up and slammed the ball to the right of Covic and inside the post. 1-1

Some better defending was seen in the 16th minute when Alex Wilkinson defused a dangerous run by Holland, with a text book ‘in the box’ tackle, and then one minute later a one-two with Saso Petrovski saw defender Andrew Clark one on one with Ante Covic but his APIA scoring days left him and the big Jets ‘keeper scooped the shot up easlily.

In the 26th minute that man opposing fans love to hate, Joel Griffiths (who gave Adam Kwasnik a facelift later, though Kwasnik is still ugly), had his chance with a free kick within range. As the ball penetrated the wall Danny Vukovic made a diving save to his left. One minute later a hand ball call against Griffiths was turned down and the ball went back to Matt Thompson. The underated midfielder steered a firm shot goalward but the Coast’s Olyroo custodian somehow got his right hand to it, to palm it out. Griffiths got a header in from a free kick after the corner was cleared but he was just wide.

The Mariners lifted and Alosi had a chance that Covic had no problem with. In the 42nd minute Petrovski steered the ball across goal with Covic beaten.

Again an alleged hand ball, by Matt Thompson, was ‘missed’ however it was just outside the goal area.

The second half was a tamer affair, although only 3 minutes in Griffiths got a free shot in.

A moment that watching Pim Verbeek may have jotted in his notebook came in the 52nd minute. Andrew Durante received the ball from Covic, and looking up sent a 60m pass straight to the feet of Joel Griffiths, unmarked, deep in the Mariners half. O’Grady didn’t move to intercept that flight. With Wilkinson racing back Griffiths just had to gather a ball that was played perfectly onto his main peg, and stroll forward and steer it past Vukovic. Which he did! 1-2

The next best chance of the half went to the Mariners but without the same result. In the 69th minute substitute Andre Gumprecht almost made his mark with a fine run on the right, and a cross (helped on by poor attempt to clear by a defender) that found Saso Petrovski. His diving header was going just under the bar, until an acrobatic Ante Covic got some fingers to it and steered it onto the bar, and it rebounded back into play.

The Mariners applied pressure, with renewed drive. Hutchinson saw his shot deflect but to Covic, and then Petrovski’s snap shot was covered, and Gumprecht shot wide, and Hutchinson again over off a cross. These were quarter chances though and the Mariners never really made the opportunity they needed.

“We just weren’t good enough”. “We conceded two bad goals and in the second half Danny had only one save to make and their other shot was a goal,” said Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna after the match. “We’ve went from being the best defensive team in the Hyundai A-League to probably the worst over the last few weeks and one win in seven is not good enough.

“It’s not just defending though, we’re creating chances and we’re not taking them, we’re taking the wrong options and not talking enough, definitely the boys have gone into their shells a bit.” “Three home games, three bad results and there are no excuses, it’s not good enough,” said McKinna.

“If you’re going to win the Premiership you have to win your home games and we’ve said that all along. “Our job now is to hope for a draw between the Roar and Sydney FC tomorrow and try to pick things up for the Finals Series.”

Newcastle coach Gary Van Egmond said the team is now gunning for a top two finish heading into the Hyundai A-League finals. “It’s always good to make sure that it is in our hands and that was part of the motivation” … “To ensure that we didn’t have to rely on other teams to get ourselves into the semis”, Van Egmond said.

“I thought the boys were excellent tonight, I thought they got their reward for some good football out there and at times we had to grind a result out and full marks to them”. “The boys are now very motivated to win our last home game against Perth”.

Both teams will be watching the R20 Queensland versus Sydney game this Sunday with close interest, ahead of their own home games next weekend against cellar dwellars Wellington and Perth respectively. The Premiers Plate remains up for grabs by all now in the top four.