Mariners sail into the Grand Final 3-2 on aggregate

Sold-out crowd, passion galore, deep in old Rugby League country, football took another giant leap forward.

Central Coast Mariners 3 Newcastle Jets 0..after extra-time.


Crowd 19,000 sold out. And the place went off. Sleepy Gosford exploded with noise, crunching tackles and fierce rivalry. The F3 Derby had it all.

Goalscorers Adam Kwasnik, Sasho Petrovski(2)

Referee: Ben Williams. Had a difficult game to control but somehow managed to keep everyone including John Hutchison and Sasho Petrovski on the pitch when they tried their hardest to get a second yellow.

Winning Coach Lawrie McKinna lost two early to injuries. Alvin Ceccoli and Tom Pondlejak but somehow brought his team home.

Gary Van Egmond threw in Song Jin Hyung the young Korean for his first game. An F3 semi-final. It didn't work.

Newcastle Jets. Joel Griffiths scores most of the Jets goals and tonight he didn't and therefore they couldn't score. He looked a little off the pace. And the young Jets side seemed out-muscled out fought by the experienced Mariners.

Tarek Elrich had his poorest game of the season, giving away ball after ball. Kwasnik lead him a merry dance.

The Game Craig Foster would have hated it. SBS would have cried at it all. But a sold out crowd, passionate fans. A Grand Final place at stake. This game was tension filled, mistake ridden, but the Mariners had the greater desire to make it happen. And they did...just.

The Jets still only needed one, and Matt Thompson and Troy Hearfield went very close in extra-time.

Let's not criticise this one for once. It was a gripping, Australian sporting occasion. I loved it.

Can't wait for next week.

Best crowd sign: Football for dummies (in the colours of those books)...John Hutchison

ps What is happening in this country. This football thing is mad!