Goals by Mate Dragicevic, Leo Bertos and David Tarka saw the Glory home against a flat looking Mariners.

The home side's only joy came from Nik Mrdja’s scorching free kick minutes before the break and Sasho Petrovski’s first ever Mariners goal in second half stoppage time.

Having conceded midway through the first half, the Mariners restored parity through Mrdja’s effort, before leaking a further two goals in the second stanza prior to Petrovski’s consolation.

Though the Mariners did create several clear cut opportunities throughout the match, the visiting Perth side deserved their victory after an encounter that ends the Central Coast’s Pre-Season Cup final monopoly.

Every previous edition of the Pre-Season Cup showpiece had been held at the Mariners’ Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium home, which will now host the playoff for third and fourth place next Sunday, 12 August.

"Obviously we’re disappointed not to have won, it was probably our worst performance of the Pre-Season Cup," said Mariners Football Manager Lawrie McKinna.

"We knew from how much work the boys have been doing at training that we’d have a flat game and that was tonight, but to Perth’s credit they played very well."

Positively for the home side, striker Mrdja posed as great an attacking threat as he has in Mariners colours – underlined by his first goal at Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium since July 2005.

Similarly, strike partner Petrovski’s first goal since his off-season move from Sydney FC was just reward for a tireless display from the Socceroo marksman.

Fellow new signing Dean Heffernan and former Glory lynchpin Tom Pondeljak also made cameo appearances following their injury concerns leading up to the match, with only starting eleven candidates Greg Owens and Tony Vidmar sitting on the sidelines.

"We got ourselves back into the game before half time and then their deflected goal took the wind out of our sails and then they got their third one," said McKinna.

"Credit to the boys though, we could have scored five goals in the last twenty minutes quite easily – we got the crowd right into it.

"It was disappointing that we were flat but obviously the Pre-Season Cup is used to get ready for the Hyundai A-League, so I’d rather lose this game and be fully fit and functional for the Sydney FC game."

Match Details

Central Coast Mariners 20. Danny Vukovic (gk), 6. Andre Gumprecht, 7. John Hutchinson (5. Bradley Porter 84’), 9. Nik Mrdja, 11. Damien Brown (8. Dean Heffernan 63’), 16. Nigel Boogaard, 17. Matthew Osman, 18. Alex Wilkinson, 19. Adam Kwasnik (10. Tom Pondeljak 59’), 22. Sasho Petrovski, 23. Mile Jedinak

Unused Subs 1. Matthew Trott (gk)

Yellow Cards Petrovski 39’
Red Cards None

Goals Mrdja 44’, Petrovski 90’+2

Perth Glory 30. Tando Velaphi (gk), 2. Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 3. David Tarka, 4. Simon Colosimo (15. Mitchell Prentice 67’), 6. Dino Djulbic, 8. David Micevski, 9. Mate Dragicevic, 12. Leo Bertos (16. Nick Rizzo 79’), 13. Nikita Rukavytsya, 14. Jamie Coyne, 19. Naum Sekulovski

Unused Subs 5. Jamie Harnwell, 50. Tom Tomich (gk)

Yellow Cards Djulbic 27’, Tarka 42’, Sekulovski 90’+2
Red Cards None

Goals Dragicevic 23’, Bertos 57’, Tarka 78’

Referee Ben Williams
Crowd 5,967