The Central Coast Mariners have been crowned A-League premiers after an enthralling final round of the regular season. They were on top of the table for all but four rounds and managed to pull off a result that seemed hopeless at the beginning of the week.

Newcastle Jets 2 Perth Glory 1
Newcastle were the first of the premiership hopefuls to play and got the result they needed to send them to the top of the table and put the pressure on their three rivals The match was a tight affair even after the controversial sending off of Perth defender Nick Rizzo. Joel Griffiths scored his 12th goal of the season to wrap up the golden boot. The three goals were mainly due to poor defence and no doubt both coaches will be disappointed with the way they were conceded. Perth were also guilty of squandering chances, with Nikita Rukavystya through one on one with the keeper, only to shoot straight at Ante Covic.

Central Coast Mariners 2 Wellington Phoenix 0
The Mariners leapfrogged their derby rivals and jumped into the premiership position in terrible weather in Gosford. The result put even more pressure on Sydney, who needed a two-goal victory to keep their chances alive. The Mariners controlled most of the match but squandered a lot of opportunities in the difficult conditions, Matthew Simon, who was given a start ahead of Saso Petrovski (who would have been suspended if he was yellow carded) would have been disappointed with his finishing - but the young local is sure to bounce back. Wellington also squandered some golden opportunities but the Mariners held on, John Aloisi scoring after the break and then Adam Kwasnik sealing the result with another splendid goal in stoppage time to send the crowd into raptures.

Sydney FC 2 Melbourne Victory 2
Sydney were always going to be in for a hard match, needing to win by two against an in-form Melbourne. However, a great start saw them take the lead within five minutes thanks to Steve Corica. Melbourne manager Ernie Merrick said before the match that he wanted to crush Sydney’s premiership hopes and his team were definitely out to do that. Sydney had the lead twice but both times Melbourne stayed strong and pegged it back Merrick handed Mitchell Langerak a debut in goal and the youngster made a solid debut. Melbourne equalised with 15 minutes to go, leaving Sydney to score two goals. To their credit they pushed but they couldn’t find the net. The resuult left Sydney in third place and manager John Kosmina frozen in shock.

'John Aloisi scored after the break for the Mariners and then Adam Kwasnik sealed the result with another splendid goal in stoppage time'

Adelaide United 2 Queensland Roar 0
Queensland “brought the wrong strip” to this match (although rumours suggest that they wore their home jersey so that they could get presented with the trophy in home colours). It left both teams looking almost identical (Adelaide in red and Queensland in orange, though the referee nevertheless allowed the game to proceed. The clash couldn’t be blamed for Adelaide’s two goals, however, with poor goalkeeping and defence combining to leave Queensland deep in trouble. With Adelaide 1-0 up, Danny Tiatto found himself red-carded after his punch on Travis Dodd was spotted by the assistant referee. The loss of Tiatto virtually put paid to Queensland’s premiership hopes. It never looked like going right for them after the first goal and the result handed the premiership to the Mariners, who watched the game at the Terrigal Hotel, the final whistle prompting celebrations throughout the Central Coast.