It will be an all-New South Wales A-League grand final following the Central Coast Mariners' upset 1-0 away win over Adelaide United in last night's preliminary final.
Adelaide, the minor premiers and pace-setters for almost the entire inaugural Hyundai A-League season, have been left empty-handed after failing to come back
from an early Tom Pondeljak goal at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Earlier clashes between the two sides, who hardly figured in pre-season discussions, had produced two 1-1 draws and a 2-1 win for the South Australians on the Central Coast.
The only goal in last night's match in front of a disappointing crowd of 11,405, came after seven minutes when Pondeljak capitalised on some hesitant United defending as Andre Gumprecht played in a crucial ball which Pondeljak pushed home.
Both teams had other chances with Fernando Rech going closest for the home side in the 77th minute when he crashed a free kick on to the crossbar.
Adelaide dominated for periods in the second spell as they chased the equaliser but found the packed Coast defence equal to anything they threw at them.
Adelaide forced a number of late corners but still trailed that count 8-9 but they did have 13 scoring attempts to 11 for the visitors. Tellingly, only three were on target.
Adelaide coach John Kosmina surprised with his 77th minute substitution when he called in Rech and replaced him with 21-year-old debutante Jason Spagnuolo.
The Mariners now face the much shorter trip to Sydney's Aussie Stadium to play Sydney FC in Sunday's grand final where Sydney will start as warm favourites.
