The spoils were shared between the Mariners and City in an entertaining 2-2 draw in Gosford. The home side went behind first but scored twice in the second half to take a 2-1 lead.

The Mariners then gave away a penalty late, which Bruno Fornaroli converted to earn the visitors a point. Okon hailed his players after the match.

"We were more than worthy of the three points tonight," he said.

"The performance of the players was extraordinary. I think it was what the club's about, what the club's built on. The effort of the players was magnificent. There is a little bit of disappointment there.

"(The win) wasn't to be but for us moving forward the hope is to repeat that performance again and again and again. We end the year on a positive note. The support tonight was amazing and we're really proud to end it this way.

"We'll celebrate the end of the year, we'll take a point but I can't wait to get back to training on Tuesday."

Central Coast were coming off a 4-1 away loss to Melbourne Victory. Okon was pleased with the way his charges bounced back from the defeat, but wants to see his team eradicate simply mistakes from their performances.

"Yes the result was disappointing but in large patches of that game against Melbourne Victory we did OK," he said.

"We had a great chance to make it 2-1 and then we probably don't see a 4-1 scoreline. We don't know what that result would have been. And to go down to Melbourne with that intent - I think we were nearly square on possession. And that's the team that I want.

"That's the way I want the team to play. We were poor in certain moments when we gave away goals that you don't even see on the training ground. Tonight, part of the talk before the game was not to make those mistakes. And if we didn't then we'll have a big chance.

"In the end we're 2-1 up with a few minutes to go. Throughout most of this season that's where we've really let ourselves down, with silly mistakes. It's cost us points. Hopefully we'll see less of that in 2017."

Both of the Mariners second-half substituions in Fabip Ferriera and Connor Pain had an impact against City. Okon was happy with the display of his bench and that of young goal-scorer Trent Buhagiar.

"We're delighted for him," he said.

"I'm not sure he meant to hit it as sweet as he did. But we know he's an exciting talent and I think tonight was our strongest bench of the season. And we need that, every team needs that. We want competition. It now gives me something to think about for the game against Sydney."