The Mariners were ahead 1-0 until Matt Simon was sent off in the 72nd minute.

They then conceded two late goals, to George Blackwood and Riley McGree, to be knocked out of the Cup.

Stajcic feels Simon's dismissal was pivotal.

"I though it was a very even contest for large periods,"he said. "If not, I thought we had the better of the play for larger periods in the first half and the second half up until the red card.

"And then the red card obviously swung the game in their favour and they obviously got a lot of momentum.

"We were still in the match, we were leading at the time and I thought we deserved the lead at that point. Even though we got the red card, we shouldn’t have given away as much territory and dominance as we did, and we certainly didn’t scramble enough.

"The lads put in a great effort, a lot to learn and a lot to be proud of as well. Apart from a couple of critical incidents, I thought we could have won that game."

Stajcic was pleased with his side's performance at Central Coast Stadium, but admits they need to learn from the experience.

"There’s a lot to be impressed about how we played, and a lot to think about in terms of positives," he said.

"But at the end of the day we lost the game and we really need to think about how we’re going to win tight games like that and win critical moments so we don’t put ourselves in positions like this again."