Brisbane kept the race for the A-League Premier's Plate alive with a pulsating 2-1 victory over the Jets in Newcastle.
League-leader Central Coast defeated Adelaide 1-0 in Gosford, and the Roar held serve down the road after Mitch Nichols converted the match-winning penalty with nine minutes to go.
Brisbane can steal the minor premiership if it wins on the Gold Coast next week and the Mariners fail to take three points in their trip to Wellington.
The Jets' defeat leaves the door open for Sydney, which sits one point behind in seventh place, to snatch a finals berth.
"It was a big game for us today because we pretty much shore up second spot and we take it down to the last week which is what we wanted to do," Postecoglou said.
"Seven weeks ago, we were 11 points behind the Mariners and, in the last seven weeks, we've played every team in the top six away, bar the Heart, and we've won all of them.
"When I look back to then, I thought 'we're going to find it really tough to maybe even stay in the top four if we don't really hit some good form'.
"But to win all those games away from home has been a monumental effort from the players.
"I'm really glad it's gone down to the last week and we're still in with a shot."
Abbas had the first real chance of the match only eight minutes in when he found himself in an eternity of space to line up his shot but sent it wide, with Jeremy Brockie's shot minutes later saved at the near post by Roar gloveman Michael Theoklitos.
But Besart Berisha opened the scoring for the visitors in the 13th minute with a trademark poachers finish, levelling Shane Smelt'z record season haul of 19.
But the Roar were punished for missing a gluttony of chances thereafter.
Brazilian striker Henrique could have doubled the Roar's advantage but the ball hit the far post, ricocheted to hit the near post and somehow still did not cross the line with the 11,471 Newcastle faithful breathing a collective sigh of relief.
The football gods smiled on the Jets again only a minute later when Berisha was also denied by the woodwork from close range.
And if not enough had already gone the Jets' way, Abbas stepped up to take a perfectly-placed free kick with only five minutes remaining in the opening stanza and made no mistake, curling it in to equalise 1-1 for the hosts.
Berisha spurned a great opportunity only minutes into the second half to put the Roar in front when he found himself one-on-one with Jets 'keeper Ben Kennedy but his header sailed over the crossbar.
The Roar were gifted another chance in the 53rd minute when they were awarded a penalty after Calvano Tiago brought the impressive Jack Hingert down in the box.
Henrique stepped up to the spot but his weak effort was saved by Kennedy.
With half an hour remaining Theoklitos came to the Roar's rescue with two superb consecutive saves, blocking Ryan Griffiths and Francis Jeffers' shots.
Tiago gifted the Roar another penalty in the dying minutes with his tackle on Erik Paartalu, this time Nichols making no mistake from the spot to score the 81st-minute winner.
"We had a couple of really good opportunities early on and, if you don't take take them, it comes back to bite you and it definitely did tonight," a dejected Jets coach Gary van Egmond said.
"Once you give a team like Brisbane a chance to get some rhythm and play at their tempo ... it's always going to be difficult.
"So now it will all come down to next week, so we just have to regroup and get ready for it."
Roar: 2 (B Berisha 13', M Nichols 82' pen)
Jets: 1 (A Abbas 40')
ABC/AAP
Tags: a-league, soccer, sport, newcastle-2300, nsw, australia, brisbane-4000, qld First posted March 17, 2012 19:43:24