Newcastle 0 Central Coast 2
Goal scorer ... Newcastle's Matt Simon celebrates yesterday. Photo: Getty Images
GOALS from Matt Simon and veteran midfielder John Hutchinson secured victory for Central Coast Mariners in Sunday's low-key A-League NSW derby clash with a depleted Newcastle Jets at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Despite bright sunshine and a season-high crowd of 13,467, neither side were able to dominate proceedings in a drab affair, with little in the way of quality on display from either side.
It was the one moment of true class in the first half that gave the Mariners the lead at half-time when Simon finished superbly on the quarter-hour mark after the usually reliable Nikolai Topor-Stanley misjudged a flighted ball from Oliver Bozanic.
Hutchinson, who has failed to get a regular start in Graham Arnold's side this season, wrapped up the win three minutes from time with a cool finish from the edge of the box after coming off the bench.
The win moved the Mariners above Adelaide United and up to second on the ladder, but for the Jets, who remain in sixth, there were more injury woes when skipper Kasey Wehrman limped off with an ankle problem after just five minutes.
Newcastle boss Branko Culina said before the game his side could not cope with any further injury setbacks with 12 senior players already on the sidelines and key defender Ljubo Milicevic departing midweek to try to find a club in Europe.
The former Sydney FC coach switched to a 4-3-3 formation midway through the first half in a bold attempt to get back into the game, and his side should have restored parity in the 18th minute when Labinot Haliti shot straight at Mat Ryan when well placed.
Haliti missed another great opportunity just before half-time when he lazily attempted to flick the ball past Ryan with the outside of his foot after Ryan Griffiths robbed Pedj Bojic and crossed into the box.
The second half started in similar fashion, with chances at a premium from both sides. An enthusiastic, but limited Jets side were better after the interval, but were unable to find a cutting edge in the final third, despite some enterprising midfield play from Griffiths and Ruben Zadkovich.
Zadkovich stung the palms of Ryan with a well-struck effort midway through the second period but it was the best his side could muster as they slipped to only their second home defeat of the season.
Arnold said the fact both sides had played three games in eight days was the major reason for the poor showing, but was delighted with the application shown by his players.
''It comes with all these midweek games, that is our third game in a week and playing in the heat doesn't help,'' he said. ''It was a bit flat, but when you have heavy programs like we have had it can take the sting out of the game and it's a battle of the fittest. Overall, to play Wellington, Brisbane and now Newcastle in quick succession but … come away from here with a 2-0 win, I am very proud of the boys.
''I didn't think at the start of the year we would be in the top-two, our goal was top-six, and it is still top-four, but we are going to give the top-two a shake. We assembled a squad to play the way I want us to play and I thought it would take more time, to be honest, to get to where we are at.
''There is a lot of improvement still to come and what we showed last week against Brisbane is what we can do, but we need to be more consistent. But we have some very good footballers here and having seen the injury to David Carney for the Socceroos in Qatar the other night, I think we have a ready-made replacement in Josh Rose who has had a fantastic year.''
The Mariners face a mammoth road trip to Perth on Wednesday and Arnold may have to rest players due to his side's hectic fixture schedule. ''I don't think we are going to be able to take everyone who played today over to Perth … if a player gets injured now with a soft tissue injury he is out for the season,'' Arnold said.
