The home side needed victory, but came up with a point that sees the league's new boys move to 34 points, one point off sixth-placed Wellington Phoenix who has three games in play.

It also means Brisbane Roar have officially won the Premiers Plate, with the Mariners now unable to rein in the eight point deficit that sits between them and Ange Postecoglou's men.

But back to an engaging contest, one that saw both goals come in the space of an amazing 90 seconds.

On 49 minutes a speculative Matt Thompson free-kick 15 yards inside his own half skidded off the damp turf and embarrassingly caught out teenage Mariners' goalkeeper Matt Ryan.

Ryan scrambled back towards his own goal-line, but it was in vain as he fumbled the ball under little pressure, a piece of play he will never forget.

Having gone 1-0 down, the Mariners immediately struck back when Josh Rose played in Daniel McBreen, who tucked home the left-back's cross at the second attempt after his initial volley was denied the first time around by Heart stopper Clint Bolton.

The action-packed two minute period highlighted an engaging contest that was fortunate to even go ahead after heavy rain lashed Melbourne 45 minutes before the scheduled 8pm kick-off.

Referee Strebre Delovski checked the surface on a number of occasions before actually giving the go-ahead, much to the delight of the hardy 3667 crowd which braved the elements in the hope play would get underway, and it did at 9.22pm, 82 minutes late.

Central Coast almost drew first blood on six minutes when Michael McGlinchey's 25-yard strike was spilled by Bolton.

But unlike Ryan some 43 minutes later, Bolton's blushes were spared when he regained the ball but replays showed it may have crossed the line.

Both sides were able to fashion some quality chances with the home side's best falling to mercurial Dutchman Gerald Sibon, who forced Ryan into an acrobatic save from a free-kick, while Argentinian import Patricio Perez drew a nice Bolton stop also from a free-kick.

Early in the second-half, Heart received a brilliant slice of good fortune with Thompson's goal which Ryan made a hash of.

But Heart's advantage lasted no longer lasted less than two minutes, when McBreen bobbed up for his fifth goal of the season.

The home side pressed hard for a winner, with Sibon just missing the top, right-hand corner from 20 yards on 72 minutes before Ryan made amends eight minutes later with a top-draw save to deny Wayne Srhoj on 80 minutes.

But Central Coast were always a dangerous threat on the counter-attack and Heart were grateful to impressive left-back Aziz Behich, who cleared the ball off his own line on two occasions deep in the second-half.

Behich was outstanding with his mazy runs down the left flank, while Sibon, Thompson and captain Simon Colosimo were other impressive performers for the Heart.

For the Mariners, Rose, Rostyn Griffiths and Alex Wilkinson were among their better players.

Melbourne Heart 1 (Thompson 49')
Central Coast Mariners 1 (McBreen 50')
Crowd; 3667 @ AAMI Park