The Mariners never hit the front in the tight draw at Sydney Showground, conceding at the wrong times in the clash.

Sydney's Alex Brosque opened the scoring inside the first minute, but Central Coast equalised a quarter of an hour into the second-half only to allow the Sky Blues to restore their lead again within a minute.

Matt Simon did square the ledger on 66 minutes to seal the result and Arnold was pleased with his side's character in fighting back.

"I'm happy with the performance and with the boys," he said.

"We made a lot of changes, as did Sydney and I thought we showed good character out there tonight.

"I'm happy that I saw the character of the Mariners out there tonight, and I'm pleased that I saw things we can work on at training going forward."

Mustafa Amini and Oliver Bozanic both produced bright performances for the Mariners in a positive sign, but Arnold knows there's still work to do.

He added: "The purpose of these games is to try new things and work on different combinations, and there were a number of things I wasn't happy with tonight."

Central Coast are next in action in a training match against Newcastle Jets on Thursday 22 July at Budgewoi Soccer Club.