David Williams appeared to be brought down inside the box by Mariners goalkeeper Matthew Ryan late in the contest, but referee Gerard Parsons waved away the Fury's claims.

Straka, though, declined to comment on the decision when he was asked about the penalty after the match.

"I think it's better if you talk to the referee not me," he said. "I don't want to be suspended more, one time is enough."

Fury players Dyron Daal and Chris Grossman also refused to comment on the controversial call from Parsons.

Straka added: "We are very disappointed. The team fought very well, they did everything, but it's a shame.

"If you get a goal, 1-1, we had some possibility to win this game. The first half was not good, we were too nervous. We missed the final pass, maybe more confidence on the ball.

"In the second half we were better, definitely better, so it's a shame."

The loss was North Queensland's second home defeat in a row and Straka knew the importance of the upcoming midweek clash with Melbourne Heart in Townsville.

"Third game at home, no points? I know the situation, I'm not stupid," he said.

The win strengthened the Mariners' grip on third spot and moved them to within four points of second-placed Adelaide United who play leaders Brisbane Roar tomorrow.

Central Coast boss Graham Arnold said he was happy with where Central Coast were sitting on the table.

"With Adelaide and Brisbane playing tomorrow night we can sit back and watch them," he said. "We're very happy with where we are but there's plenty of work to do."

Arnold added: "I'm very happy. It's not an easy place to come with the humidity but the boys put in a big shift, although I thought in the first half we should have been up 3-0.

"That's six points out of six, we gave the players a challenge tonight to make it back-to-back wins and I'm very pleased with the result."

Arnold continued: "We played against them a month ago and have watched their DVD's, they have some pace up front so if you defend that little bit deeper it makes it harder for them to get in behind you.

"We played very well for 65-70 minutes before the fatigue factor set in and we purposely tried to keep the three subs for the last 20-25 minutes."

Skipper Alex Wilkinson was pull of praise for another impressive Mariners performance.

"Just the humidity factor, it wasn't that hot for Townsville standard but the difference in humidity from Sydney coming up here, there's a big difference and it's going to get harder for teams coming up here coming into summer so I'm glad we got it out of the way," he said.

"They're the sorts of wins that you look back on at the end of the year, hopefully in the finals and say that was one of the wins that got us there so I'm really proud of the boys."