The Central Coast Mariners' resurgence has continued with a 4-2 defeat of Perth Glory that moves the reigning A-League Men champions into the top six for the first time this season.
After losing their first four games of the campaign, the Mariners are now undefeated in their past six and enter 2024 as one of the ALM's form teams.
In his last game in Gosford before joining Japan's Kyoto Sanga, Marco Tulio nailed two goals from spot kicks that were awarded for hand-balls in the area by Glory captain Mark Beevers.
Having been down 3-1 at the break, Perth took it to the Mariners in a more evenly-paced second half and only appeared out of the contest after the second of those Tulio goals in stoppage time.
Perth were reduced to nine men late on Sunday after Beevers and Aleksandar Susnjar received their second yellow cards, the former for his last hand-ball and the latter for dissent.
Perth forward Stefan Colakovski was displeased by the decisions.
"I think everyone involved with Perth Glory was frustrated," he told Paramount Plus.
"I've got to be careful with what I say but anyone that watched the game, two red cards, every time we touched a player, yellow card.
"I'm the first one to say we need to look in the mirror and improve but I think it's obvious looking at those stats how the game played out."
The Mariners' first come-from-behind win of the season means they will finish the weekend in sixth place.
"What we have is a belief as a club, as a group of players, that we can get better every game and that's what we're trying to instil in the players," Mariners coach Mark Jackson told Paramount Plus.
"They work so hard in training, they listen to what we have to say and how we want to implement our ideas and they're starting to carry that out more consistently on the pitch.
"If we continue to do that, then the sky's the limit."
In-form defender Jacob Farrell found an equaliser for the Mariners 10 minutes after Perth drew first blood through Adam Taggart.
Perth struggled for more first-half chances but Central Coast had no such issues, scoring twice in the 10 minutes before the break.
Alou Kuol's goal stood despite Perth's frustrations at a heavy challenge from Mariners defender Storm Roux on Salim Khelifi in the lead-up.
Tulio nailed his first goal in first half injury time after referee Jack Morgan ruled Beevers' hand had extended at an unnatural angle to block what would have been a goal.
It was a verdict handed down again in the dying minutes of the game.
Five minutes after the break, Colakovski skipped past Brian Kaltak for a goal that kept the Mariners on their toes for the remainder of the contest.
But no more goals ensued for the visitors as the Mariners farewelled 2023 with their first home win over Glory since 2017.
