The Mariners trailed early and required a second-half stoppage-time goal to clinch the points, but Arnold insisted he was always confident of the victory on playmaker Patricio Perez's home debut.

"I always felt in the second half they (North Queensland) were going to fatigue as they've had a heavy program of away trips," he said.

"Even when they scored the first goal at 1-0 down, I felt it was the best we've played with the ball pretty much all season.

"It's what we're working to and I thought Perez was starting to combine with the front players well."

Arnold continued he was delighted with Perez's combination play in attack.

"He's a marvellous player and he's trying to get used to the tempo of the Australian game," he said.

"You can see the way he's playing the frontmen in, they're bouncing off him and people are moving around him. He's got such wonderful vision.

"He's unlucky he could have had two or even three goals tonight. We're very lucky we've got him here."

Arnold also had praise for young goalkeeper Matthew Ryan who produced some quality saves late in the match.

"There's been questions on Matty Ryan, our defence has been fantastic and he hasn't had much to do. At 2-2 he's pulled off a marvellous save down low to his right for us to go up the other end to score the winning goal," he said.

Arnold added: "I'm very happy with the result because it's not easy to come off the bye. For me I thought McGlinchey was our man of the match tonight."

Central Coast's next match is away to Brisbane Roar on October 20.