Central Coast Mariners 1 (Kwasnik 9) Newcastle Jets 2 (Holland 6, Griffiths 53)
For the third consecutive A-League home match, the Central Coast Mariners were watched by a record crowd and for the third consecutive home match they were defeated - this time by local rivals, the Newcastle Jets. But the Mariners still remain top of the league.

The win has finalised which four teams will play in the play-offs, ending the seasons of Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United - and has lifted the Jets to second place on 31 points, meaning that the 0-0 draw between Queensland and Sydney leaves all four finalists level on points going into the final round of the regular season.

Former Mariners squad member James Holland opened the scoring on six minutes, chesting the ball down (although replays suggest it could have been his arm), shrugging off a poor challenge from Paul O’Grady and striking the ball past Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic.

'The result is sure to make the last few matches interesting and leaves the race for the Premiership wide open'


Some tricky weaving from Adam Kwasnik provided Central Coast with the equaliser three minutes later as he hit the ball hard and low past Ante Covic into the net. But Kwasnik’s fun ran out in the 30th minute, when Newcastle striker Joel Griffiths' swinging arm left him with a suspected broken nose.

Newcastle took the lead again eight minutes after the break as Griffiths skirted the offside line and got past Paul O’Grady to leave himself with an easy strike past Vukovic.

Andre Gumprecht replaced Kwasnik in the 66th minute and almost equalised when his cross into the penalty area found John Aloisi, whose header was pushed on to the cross bar by Covic and cleared.

The result is sure to make the last few matches interesting and leaves the race for the Premiership wide open. Attendance: 19,238 (record)

Queensland Roar 0 Sydney FC 0
Sydney FC have become the A-League’s first-ever road warriors, being undefeated in all their away games after a dull scoreless draw against the Queensland Roar in Brisbane. The result leaves the top four teams all deadlocked on 31 points coming in to the final round, with all four facing opponents in the bottom half - and all four believing that they will have a chance of claiming the Premiership.

Queensland had most of the possession in the match but they failed to make the most of the opportunities that they created, Marcinho especially guilty in the later stages, however it may be more to Clint Bolton’s saves in the final ten minutes. Attendance: 31,933

Perth Glory 3 (Robinson 12, Rukavytsya 45, Harnwell 62) Adelaide United 2 (Djite 8, Dodd 59)
Perth Glory lifted themselves off the bottom of the A-League ladder in an entertaining 3-2 game. The calls for the head of Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar are sure to grow stronger as Adelaide’s amazing fall continues, with a desperate need to gain some form ahead of the Asian Champions League.

The match got off to a frantic start when Adelaide’s young star Nathan Burns slid the ball to Bruce Djite, who was left with an easy finish after eight minutes. The lead wasn’t to last long, however, as James Robinson slid in the equaliser after a good low cross from Billy Celeski.

Stan Lazaridis forced a great save out of Eugene Galekovic to make a great save and in stoppage time Nikita Rukavystya used his speed to get past Angelo Costanzo before firing the ball past Galekovic to make it 2-1.

On the hour mark scores were level again, as Travis Dodd launched the ball into the back of the net from around 30 yards. Again, though, the lead didn’t last very long as Lazaridis sent the ball square for Jamie Harnwell to coolly slot home the winner. Attendance: 8,025

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