Central Coast Mariners’ incredible pursuit of a treble is complete after they claimed a second successive A-League Men championship with a dramatic 3-1 extra-time win over Melbourne Victory.
The Mariners’ quest for the title looked dead and buried with Victory leading courtesy of a Jason Geria strike as the 90th minute ticked by at Gosford’s Industree Group Stadium on Saturday.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Incredible moment fans celebrate Mariners’ A-League championship.
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But substitute Ryan Edmondson popped up in the 91st minute to square things up and send the grand final into extra-time.
Teenager Miguel Di Pizio scored seven minutes into extra-time before Edmondson added his second in the dying moments to clinch another title under first-year coach Mark Jackson, having already won the premiership and the AFC Cup.
“This whole season we’ve had a never-say-die attitude, we never stopped believing,” said Edmondson, who won the Joe Marston Medal as player of the match.
An overjoyed pitch invasion followed the final whistle, with players surrounded and the likes of Alou Kuol and Harrison Steele even lifted into the air by overjoyed supporters.
The Central Coast’s win was their first at their home stadium, with 21,379 fans attending, after previously being forced to play grand finals in Sydney.
“You guys got us over the line tonight,” captain Danny Vukovic said.
“This is a night that’s going to be remembered for a very long time — let’s enjoy tonight.”
Josh Nisbet capped off the team success by claiming the Johnny Warren Medal as player of the season, announced on the dais after the grand final.
He polled 36 votes to finish ahead of Victory striker Bruno Fornaroli (29) and Wellington Phoenix’s Kosta Barbarouses (28).
Central Coast are the third team to win back-to-back championships in the competition’s history, after defeating Melbourne City 6-1 to win the title last season.
Sydney FC (2019, 2020) and Brisbane Roar (2011, 2012) are the other teams to have achieved the feat.
But the Mariners’ feat will go down as arguably the best after they lost their coach and several star players in the off-season.
Defeat condemned Victory boss Tony Popovic to his fifth defeat in five attempts as a coach in a grand final.
After a tense first half, at the end of which Kuol was subbed off for Edmondson following a head clash, Victory took the lead through Geria shortly after the break.
Daniel Arzani slipped through a challenge on the edge of the Mariners’ box to find Jordi Valadon.
Geria was in space and Valadon flicked on for the right-back, who thumped the ball beyond Danny Vukovic’s reach and into the top corner.
Victory’s legion of supporters went berserk and the Mariners began to open up as they pushed forward for an equaliser.
Each time they did, Victory were ready to counter and Popovic’s men could have had a second when Arzani broke up field, only to overcook his lay-off to an on-rushing Bruno Fornaroli.
The Mariners looked bereft of ideas as the 90th minute ticked by — until Edmondson burst into the box.
Receiving a lay-off from Nisbet, the striker fired past Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo to send the game to extra-time.
Suddenly the Mariners had all the running and Victory were sinking without a trace as Fornaroli and Arzani watched on from the bench.
Nisbet began to come into his own, and he proved his class once more when he slipped a ball down the left flank for Ronaldo Barcellos.
The Brazilian drew the ball back from the byline where he was able to pick out 18-year-old Di Pizio, who calmly finished past Izzo.
Victory spent the entire second half of extra-time camped in the Mariners’ half but they failed to find an equaliser.
The Mariners made one final burst upfield and Edmondson added his second to send the crowd wild.
– with 7NEWS