The Central Coast Mariners not only drew ahead in the record of the F3 derbies with a dominating 2-0 win at Gosford tonight over their long-term rivals, but are now level on points on the table with the early runaway leader Brisbane Roar, who they play next weekend.
Mariners coach Graham Arnold started with the same team that rolled the Reds 4-0 last week, whilst Gary van Egmond did likewise after an almost as impressive win over the Melbourne Victory but drew Francis Jeffers onto the bench.
The Jets had the ball in the net in the 4th minute but it had already been ruled off-side - it was to be the closest they came all night as the Coast put on a workmanlike but still dominant display.
In the 7th minute Matt Simon beat the Newcastle off-side trap and got into the area on the right, however the angle of his shot was covered by Jets 'keeper Matthew Nash.
The visitors were putting early pressure on the central defensive pair of the Mariners, and this was disrupting the build up play for a short while until the home side adjusted.
In the 24th minute, with Graham Arnold pulling strings from the technical area, the Mariners pushed forward and almost immediately Mustafa Amini collected the ball in midfield from a throw. Surging forward he hit a strong drive that was heading for the topright corner of the net, but Matthew Nash was able to palm it away for a corner.
From the corner Michael McGlinchey swung the ball into the area and Rostyn Griffiths rose to head past Nash and a defender on the line. 1-0
The Mariners continued to threaten without getting a clear chance, until the 45th minute when Mustafa Amini beat Tarek Elrich and his stinging shot was just deflected by Tiago Calvano.
After the break the Newcastle side put pressure on the movement of the home side for a while, but in the 59th minute Bernie Ibini-Isei was played in down the right by Amini. His shot however was palmed away by Nash. It fell to Matt Simon who coming in unmarked was able to knock it past Nash as he struggled to his feet. 2-0
Seven minutes later John Hutchinson swung a ball down the leftside to Joshua Rose, whose cross was slammed against the crossbar by Ibini-Isei. In the 72nd minute Nash had to come out fast to clear the ball off Ibini-Isei's boot as he was about to strike.
In the 78th minute Ibini-Isei made a surging run on the left edge of the Jets penalty area, and hit a shot with the outside of his foot, that hit the side netting.
One minute later Tarek Elrich was able to get forward but his shot was deflected.
Substitute Daniel McBreen and Hutchinson had late chances - and Troy Hearfield 'enjoyed' the squandron's antics at a corner, but that just underlined that the game was clearly the Coast's!