Once again Central Coast Mariners found the task of beating Queensland Roar at their 'picturesque bayside arena' beyond them, as they provided all kinds of excitement and endeavour before going down 4-3 to the visitors, whose attacking options were the greater and their fire and enthusiasm enough to see them home by the finish, which was a close thing, all said and done.
A brace of goals from in-form Queensland Roar striker Serginho Van Dyk and the same number from never-say-die Mariners' top scorer, Matt Simon, came after an end-to-end contest that had been locked at half time at 1-1, Roar's 43rd minute opener cancelling out the first of the game for the hosts which had come in only the fifth minute.
That equaliser was the biggest setback for Central Coast, if coach Lawrie McKinna's post match comments are anything to go by.
With his side leading 1-0 he was extremely disappointed to see that goal go in and when Queensland grabbed a second only four minutes into the second period he was even more unhappy with the defensive work of his team.
The Mariners simply could not cope with the explosive speed and trickery of the wide Roar pairing of Tahj Minniecon and Michael Zullo, especially Minniecon, who gave Dean Heffernan a major headache.
A glaring miss by Adrian Caceres 20 minutes into the match may have been the turning point, after Central Coast had scored early on, giving the lie to Queensland's impressive start.
Matt Simon got to the by-line after combining well with Dylan Macallister, then cut the ball across the penalty area to the waiting Mrdja, who drove the ball home with his less-favoured right foot to open the scoring.
Mrdja had a good start to the game, producing a string of shots that Roar replacement keeper, Griffin McMaster dealt with frantically but well.
Meanwhile, Minniecon was beginning to look extra dangerous as he got away repeatedly down the right; but his runs came to nothing as the Mariners soaked up any resultant pressure well.
Mrdja was again to the fore in the 20th forcing a save with his body from McMaster and with another pass into the empty right hand side of the area Mrdja set up Caceres for a virtual tap-in.
But the midfielder approached the ball badly and tried to finish things off with his left foot, succeeding only in steering the ball pathetically wide of the right hand upright with neither direction nor force.
The Mariners paid for that in conceding two minutes before the break.
Matt McKay won the ball well, close to goal, and fed Minniecon whose ball to the far post was driven high into the net by Serginho Van Dijk, who has also found his striking form of late.
When the second half began Andrew Clark took over from an injured Matthew Osman for the Mariners, but the home side soon found themselves 2-1 down.
McKay sent in a high ball contested by Mariners' keeper Danny Vukovic and Van Dijk who challenged well enough to get his head to the ball, looping it over a surprisingly beaten keeper.
Later Simon put his hand up as the guilty party who had given up possession, but the player redeemed himself adequately by scoring twice later on.
In the 55th minute the first of Simon's goals came after a Queensland defensive miscalculation left McMaster hopelessly exposed at the back.
The keeper came racing well out of his goal, recklessly as it transpired, not getting to the ball soon enough to clear and looking most indecisive.
Simon put him under extreme pressure and, despite racing back and trying to get his foot to the ball to clear it, McMaster could only watch in horror as the ball flew off Simon and eventually over the line for an equaliser at 2-2.
On the hour mark Minniecon was sent away by Craig Moore and then shook off both Alex Wilkinson and Brad Porter to dash through and angle a shot across goal and past the advancing Vukovic into the net for a 3-2 Roar lead. Their lead restored so quickly Roar were not going to relinquish it again.
In the 70th Danny Tiatto found Minniecon out wide on the right with a superb cross-field pass enabling a fierce shot that Central Coast defender, Pedj Bojic, could only divert past Vukovic.
Van Dijk also had a high header tipped over by the keeper, not long before that, as Roar enjoyed their best spell of a game in which many players were seen at their best, including Massimo Murdocca, McKay, Zullo, Tiatto and Minniecon.
Defensively, however, the Queensland side, like the Mariners, were decidedly shaky, especially after their skipper, Moore, was cautioned 12 minutes into the match and their leader appeared subdued for a major part of the game.
The Mariners came back strongly over the concluding stages with Simon most prominent, as he ran hard and ran well.
In the 81st a header from Wilkinson sent Simon on to face Moore, who could not handle the youngster's pace and aggression, the Central Coast man going on to finish nicely past McMaster to keep his side in the contest at 3-4.
But Queensland did well to control enough of the possession thereafter to deny the home team the chance to stage another of their famous fight backs and snatch a point.
The win ahead of Wednesday night's visit to Adelaide gave Roar a far firmer footing on Finals' football and left the Mariners with it all to do as fifth-placed Wellington mount their own late charge a day later against Sydney FC.