Brosque's brace guaranteed all three points for Sydney even though he missed a penalty early in the second half.

And the double shot the striker to the top of the A-League goalscorers chart for the season with a total of six already, not even halfway through the campaign.

"Brosquey proved today that he's a damn good player and he probably should have achieved a lot more than he has in his career," said Kosmina after the game.

But he had praise for others too.

"Michael Bridges can play a bit and was unlucky not to score," he said. "Poppa was outstanding. We talked about stuff yesterday and he took it out on the park and did a great job.

"He's playing against a guy who's played in three of the best leagues in the world and the other guy hardly got a touch. They couldn't break us down.

"I know it's a cliche but the guys showed a bit of commitment and they showed they wanted to work for each other - and toughed it out at the end when they were starting to feel the pinch."

He added: "These guys are winners, natural winners.

"They wouldn't be here at this level unless they were. They just have to look inside and find it again."

He dismissed worries about the two Mariners' goals that dented an otherwise dominant Sydney display, and insisted they were caused by mistakes which were "easily fixed".

"I asked a couple of guys to do things they've had to differently before and it's just a matter of spending a bit more time on it," he said. "It's easily fixed.

"What we need to do is have a second 45 like our first 45. We'll be a lot better off mentally and physically after today, especially mentally."

He insisted his banishment from the touchline hadn't hindered him and joked it was probably just as well during the final frantic five minutes.

He added: "I was happy to get three points and very happy that they had such a good first half and went on in patches in the second.

"It was a good win, not an ugly win but a tough win. The Mariners kept coming at us. There's still a bit of work to do or else they wouldn't have scored those two goals.

"We need to make sure the centre-backs don't get dragged too wide. I don't think we have a lot of natural wide players in the team so we have to concentrate on we can make most use of those type of players and it worked okay today.

"It's just about getting a little bit more practice in and we'll do that this week. I think we can do it better but we need to practise."

Now Kosmina has set his sights on the title.

"I think any team can win the league at the moment," he said. "We could have been three up against the league leaders.

"It's a matter of being consistent. There's 11 rounds left and it's not a lot to ask.

"Eleven weeks of hard work and commitment with a sole focus on winning."