The victory moved the Mariners back above Gold Coast and into third spot on the A-League ladder, within four points of the top two, but Arnold said his side were still some way off.

"They (Brisbane and Adelaide) are pretty much the two best teams in the league," Arnold said.

"Brisbane are playing great football and are well coached by Ange (Postecoglou).

"Rini Coolen has done a great job and Adelaide are a very, very good side.

"Are we ready for them at the moment? I don't think so."

Arnold added: "I can see us every week getting better and better and better, and still there's a lot of improvement left.

"If there was one negative about tonight it was in front of goal. It could have been 3-nil and game over, dead and buried, but it was still 1-nil.

"We had a tough travel last week to North Queensland and now we're over here so we haven't had it easy, but the mentality of this playing group is fantastic.

"We've got no stars, I don't want any stars, we've got blokes who are prepared to go out there and work for 90 minutes, carry out a game plan and work for each other, and confidence is growing."

Saturday's victory was Central Coast's third away triumph of the season and Arnold said it was their best.

"We were always confident that we could win," he said.

"That was our best performance away from home, the football was very pleasing, so overall I'm very, very happy."

Joshua Rose grabbed a double in the game and revealed his delight after the match.

"It was nice to get a couple of goals tonight but I think the most important thing was the three points," he said.

"I've been a bit disappointed with my performances over the last few weeks so Arnie has been giving me a few tips on how to improve, telling me to get forward a bit more so it was nice tonight to get that space and get a couple of goals."

Central Coast's next match is on Thursday away to Melbourne Victory.