An injury-time winner from Dean Heffernan secured a priceless 1-0 victory for the Central Coast Mariners at Gosford on January 8, as a plucky New Zealand Knights combination defended like Trojans throughout proceedings, but ultimately succumbed with the finishing line in sight. It was a frustrating evening for the home team, whose reliance on the probing through ball and inability to deliver quality final ball for much of the game played into the hands of the visitors, whose stoic defensive display was epitomised by the performances of Darren Bazeley and John Tambouras, both of whom were outstanding. Their efforts meant goalkeeper Glen Moss wasn't overly extended by the Mariners' attacks, although he was called into action in just the fourth minute to turn away a swerving Andre Gumprecht piledriver, after the tireless midfielder was picked out by Damien Brown's corner. The Knights responded with three efforts before the quarter-hour mark which suggested that they hadn't made their latest trans-Tasman trek simply to make up the numbers - their two most recent matches, both drawn, have clearly given them renewed self-belief. But after Jeremy Christie warmed the gloves of Danny Vukovic with a long-range free-kick, Kris Bright twice went close to breaking the deadlock inside sixty seconds, firstly grazing the crossbar with a twenty-yard drive following good work by the hard-working Zenon Caravella and Christie, then letting fly with a twenty-five yard grasscutter which fizzed past the post. After Bazeley had blocked another effort from Gumprecht, the Knights' lone defensive lapse of the first half came to pass just after the half-hour mark, when Noel Spencer played a twenty-yard free-kick short to Heffernan. His shot ricocheted off a defender to Wayne O'Sullivan, whose angled cross-shot was pawed away well by Moss. Back came the visitors, with Bright spurning a glorious chance to open the scoring in the 34th minute when directing an unchallenged header wide of the mark when picked out by the well-performed Naoki Imaya - easily his best display in a Knights' shirt. Right on half-time, a rasping thirty-yarder from Spencer skidded off the greasy surface and was spilled by Moss. But before the predatory figure of John Hutchinson could pounce, the goalkeeper recovered to ensure the teams turned around with the scoreboard still to register a goal. It stayed that way for virtually the entire second spell too, despite the Mariners' best efforts to alter the fact. Straight from the kick-off, the home team poured onto the attack in search of a breakthrough, with Gumprecht being crowded out by four defenders - a measure of how desperate the Knights were to maintain the status quo on the scoreboard. Brown was following up on this occasion, only for Tambouras to block his effort to safety. The defender put his body on the line once more four minutes later to deny a Spencer piledriver, having mopped up an opening created for Hutchinson by Heffernan in between times. Still the Mariners pressed, Gumprecht slipping Hutchinson through the offside trap in the 51st minute. But Moss stood his ground well to frustrate the league's most in-form marksman, with Brown only able to direct the rebound into the sidenetting. While the home team enjoyed the lion's share of possession, their use of it wasn't what it could have been, although the Knights' defence deserves plenty of credit for ensuring this was the case. The visitors were left to feed on scraps, and on one occasion, did so deep in the Mariners' half. Caravella caught Gumprecht in possession as he dribbled out of defence, and promptly set off on a diagonal run across the penalty area, luring opponents towards him. Alert to the situation, Bright made a darting off-the-ball run, which was

rewarded by a through ball from the Knights' foremost midfielder. The young striker let fly, only to see Vukovic tip his effort to safety. It was the Knights' last effort of note, for from here on in, the team chasing a play-off spot upped their efforts significantly - it was no coincidence that the arrival of Tom Pondeljak resulted in some quality final ball finally being delivered into the danger zones which the visitors had, until this point, prevented from being penetrated. His arrival coincided with the departure of Imaya, who injured himself in blocking a Gumprecht rocket - for his finest display yet in the visitors' colours, the Japanese midfielder didn't deserve to bow out on a stretcher. It looked as if the Mariners would have to settle for a point, however, for the more this match continued, the more likely it appeared that the Knights' impressive rearguard action would see them record just their second clean sheet of the season, their first having also been secured on this ground, when they scored their lone win of the campaign to date. When Heffernan headed a Spencer free-kick over the bar from eight yards out with ten minutes remaining, you were wondering just where a goal for the home team would come from - it was going to take something special to secure the three points the Mariners so desperately coveted. Four minutes were flashed on the fourth official's board to mark the amount of stoppage time to be played, and it was in the first of them when the collective prayers of 7257 despairing Mariners' fans were finally answered. The move started with Gumprecht, who played the ball wide to Heffernan. His cross arced beyond the far post to Pondeljak, who angled the sphere inside for Hutchinson. Before the striker could get a shot in, however, Christie headed the ball away. It was hoisted further downfield into the Mariners' half, where Michael Beauchamp latched onto the ball and, from half-way, hoisted it forward in purpose-driven desperation. Tambouras rose high and headed clear, but only as far as Heffernan, who, twenty yards out, controlled the ball neatly before unleashing an unerring low drive beyond the instinctive dive of the unsighted Moss and into the bottom far corner of the net. Cue pandemonium! The Mariners were celebrating as if they'd won the league, but as things turned out, there was still time aplenty to play. For whereas the board read four minutes of stoppage time, a total of eight were played by referee Srebre Delevski, a result of an explosive finish to the game arising from an incident right in front of the dugouts. Bright failed to live up to his surname when clattering into Jamie McMaster with a despairing lunge near half-way, and that proved the catalyst for a gathering of the clans from all directions - even a spectator somehow found his way into the ensuing melee! It wasn't pretty, but while there was pushing and shoving aplenty, supplemented by any amount of foul and abusive language as emotions spilled over, order was swiftly restored, a few yellow cards flourished and, soon afterwards, the sound of a final whistle, one received with great relief by the Mariners, their last-gasp 1-0 win over the competition's cellar-dwellers maintaining their charge for the play-offs in dramatic fashion. Mariners:     Vukovic (booked, 90); Wilkinson, Beauchamp, Clark, Brown (Pondeljak, 67); O'Sullivan (O'Grady, 82 (booked, 89)), Spencer, Gumprecht, Heffernan; Petrie (McMaster, 61), Hutchinson Knights:     Moss; Tambouras, Bazeley, Van Eijs (booked, 37); Hickey, Imaya (Collett, 67), Christie (booked, 90), Caravella, Brockie; Devine (booked, 57) (Emblen, 62), Bright (booked, 90) Referee:     Srebre Delovski