Central Coast broke through for its first ever Asian Champions League triumph from 11 starts with a 5-1 thrashing of China's Tianjin Teda in Gosford on Tuesday night.
The Mariners came into the clash sitting last in Group G needing full points in both their remaining fixtures to secure a top-two finish and reach the knock-out stage.
While history was not on the side of the home team, the pain of missing out on an A-League grand final berth was.
Daniel McBreen slammed home a double at the 10- and 20-minute mark to put Central Coast up 2-0 going into the break.
That lead was doubled less than half an hour later after Josh Rose and Michael McGlinchey both found the back of the net with second-half strikes to put the result out of reach for the visitors.
Tianjin Teda's attack has been much maligned this ACL campaign, notching just the lone goal.
The visitors were presented a golden chance to open the scoring on Wednesday after just two minutes when a slip from Alex Wilkinson allowed Sjoerd Ars through on goal.
Fortunately for the Mariners the shot rebounded off the near post and danger was averted.
The home side responded to the early scare in the best possible fashion when McBreen netted the opener in the 10th minute.
It was the ideal way for the evergreen marksman to celebrate his one-year contract extension with the club.
Rejuvenated after a fortnight's break the Mariners were in a menacing mood, and were displaying the type of form that took them to the premiership during the A-League season.
A dominant midfield performance and the combativeness of Pedj Bojic was creating plenty of chances for the strikers and it wasn't long before they took full advantage.
McBreen was on hand to blast home a delightful cross from Bojic doubling his and the Mariners' tally.
Another defensive slip gave Ars another chance, before a strong challenge from Bojic ensured that the home side would retain their two-goal advantage at half-time.
A brilliant strike from Rose off his non-preferred right foot four minutes into the second half gave the Mariners an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Kwasnik went close with two strong chances, but Tianjin's keeper stood tall to deny the striker.
McBreen thought he had done enough to net his hat-trick in the 71st minute but it was not to be with Michael McGlinchey finishing the movement with a well-taken goal.
Still celebrating, Tao Nie caught the Mariners off-guard with a consolation goal.
Just like Matt Simon before him, Amini gave the Mariners fans something special to remember in his farewell game before linking with German side Borussia Dortmund and gave his side's dismal -5 goal difference a shot in the arm with a successful late shot on target.
The midfielder demonstrated perfect technique with a stinging low drive to complete the rout.
Tianjin Teda now brings up the rear in Group G with three points and a -7 goal difference, all but ruling out advancement for the Chinese club.
Central Coast: 5 (D McBreen 10', 20', J Rose 49', M McGlinchey 71', M Amini 85')
Tianjin Teda: 1 (T Nie 72')
ABC/AAP
Tags: a-league, soccer, sport, gosford-2250, nsw, australia, china First posted May 01, 2012 21:31:07
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