Following probably the worst 45 minutes of football played by Perth Glory for years, the team rallied together and ensured Matt Horsley's last game would not be on a losing side.
On what was a tumultuous day for the club, with coach McMahon seemingly under fire from both the press and the club, driving rain and a very small crowd of 7,428 spectators, somehow the team regained their focus to score a 2-2 draw with the Mariners.
The first half will be one that both Glory and the retiring Horsley will want to forget. All the fanfare of his final match seemed to catch up with him as early as the 8th minute when he stumbled in possession and allowed Stewart Petrie to dispossess him and cross the ball for the unmarked John Hutchinson to calmly tap into the glory net to give the Mariners the lead.
Glory tried to recover and ward had a shot deflected for a corner on 10 minutes. But worse was to follow and in the 13th minute the home side found themselves '2' down. Andrew Clarke got the ball in his own box and played the ball out to Andre Gumprecht, who in turn passed to Petrie who played it wide to Wayne O'Sullivan. He got his cross in and Horsley failed to clear, the ball fell to Hutchinson whose shot was blocked by Petkovic but the ball fell kindly for the following up Petrie and finished the move with a shot to the bottom right of the net.
Glory really were unable to get to terms with the conditions but they did create a chance on 19 minutes when Bobby Despotovski played a ball into Billy Celeski but his weak shot was easily saved by Vukovic in the visitors goals.
After 28 minutes Despotovski tried a shot from a free kick 25 metres out but was off target and 2 minutes later a long Horsley ball was nodded into the path of Mori by Jamie Coyne, but instead of shooting Mori tried to lay it off for Despotovski, however the striker slipped as he tried to get the ball and the chance was lost.
In the 39th minute it was ex Glory player Gumprecht who had the chance with a fine shot that just went the wrong side of the post. In added time Damian Mori tried his luck from range following an indirect free kick brought a great save from Vukovic. So at half time it was the Central Coast who were in total control at 2-0.
Obviously in the change room the Glory side had a long hard look at themselves as they came out for the second half with a lot more Horsley like determination.
After Jason Petkovic made a fine save from a great Gumprecht shot on 52 minutes after he had beaten three Glory players on the edge of the box.
In the 54th minute a lovely little pass from Hiroyuki Ishida found Nick Ward and he moved forward before threading a great curling ball into the bottom right corner of the Mariners net, to breath life back into the Glory chances.
It only took Glory a further 11 minutes before they got the equaliser. It was fitting that it should be Horsley that started the move with a long ball from his defence over the top of the Mariners backline. As Clarke ran back and Vukovic came out it was the speed Ishida who caused all the problems, nipping in between them and taking the ball away before finishing.
So Glory had clawed their way back into the match, however they appeared to slacken off again and were very lucky and thankful to Petkovic for a superb double save on 78 minutes.
There appeared little danger with Glory in possession but Harnwell lost the ball and suddenly the Mariners were on the move, with Petrie racing clear, Horsley pushed him wide but the Mariner striker played the ball into the path of Hutchinson, one on one with Petkovic, he fired in the shot that was brilliantly saved by the keeper only for the ball go bounce straight back into Hutchinson's path and this time his point blank volley was again superbly beaten away by the big Glory keeper.
The final chance of the match again fell to the Mariners when in the 83rd minute it was Billy Celeski saving Glory with a goal line clearance from a Hutchinson header.
So Matt Horsley after a very shaky start at least will remember that he left professional football not on a losing side after the 2nd half fight back.
Not only would Horsley be relieved but also coach Steve McMahon who is under mounting pressure and apparently at odds with the club. If the press conference after the game is anything to go by McMahon has no intention of leaving the club without a fight, as he appears certain to invoke his option of another year if the side finishes in the top 4. He stated that 4th would be a good number for him in reference to his option.