Rival coaches Frank Farina and John Kosmina believe Queensland Roar can run the gauntlet all the way to the A-League title.

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Queensland coach Farina and Sydney FC counterpart Kosmina had been in disagreement with each other all week in a war of words before the Roar’s 2-0 elimination final win at Suncorp Stadium.

But the old Socceroos teammates and friends are now singing from the same hymn sheet with the Roar preparing for next Sunday’s preliminary final.

The Queenslanders will travel south to meet the loser of tomorrow’s major semi-final tie between Newcastle and Central Coast in a sudden-death clash where a grand final berth is the reward.

Farina is under no illusions the Roar, who led the competition going into the final round of the regular season, are capable of taking the premiership from fourth.

“I’ve always believed we can win it,” he said.

“We narrowly missed the minor premiership, with one game to go we slipped up.

“This was one step towards that (the premiership) but we have to go further.”

Despite being dejected by the Blues loss, their first away defeat of the season, Kosmina praised the Roar’s pace and potential.

“I think they’re good enough to win it,” he said.

“I was having a chat to an old mate of mine up here and he said ‘whoever gets through is probably going to go on with it’.

“And I think they have every chance of winning it.”

Kosmina said Gosford, Newcastle or Sydney – where the grand final will be staged – wouldn’t hold any demons for the Roar.

Newcastle, 2-0 victors in the first leg against the Mariners, need only draw or lose by less than two in Gosford tomorrow to book a grand final berth.

Farina laid down the law to his young side not to be satisfied by the success in their maiden finals tie.

He said the job was “nowhere near” finished.

“We haven’t achieved anything yet, we’ve just won a tie against Sydney,” said the former Socceroos coach.

“We’ve got to win two games if we want to win the grand final.

“At this stage, it’s a good win, the boys will celebrate it, but we just have to get back and work hard.”

Striker Reinaldo limped off midway through the second half last night with a cork to the back of his right knee but is expected to recover in time to play next Sunday.

Reinaldo put Queensland on track for the preliminary final with his seventh and best goal of the season in the 13th minute.

The match was sealed with a controversial 83rd-minute penalty by Sasa Ognenovski after a Tony Popovic push on Taj Minniecom in the box.

Captain Popovic described Mark Shield’s decision as “under-6″ rules while Kosmina bit his tongue and praised the “Queensland crowd” for giving the home side an extra man advantage.

Roar skipper and Socceroos defender Craig Moore pulled up fine despite having played two big-stage matches in three days.

The Roar have six players who have conceded yellow cards in the two finals matches and another would rub them out of the grand final if they qualify.

Despite Sydney’s second straight fourth-place finish, Popovic said the inaugural champions were in good shape after Kosmina took over from the sacked Branko Culina.

“It all turned when Kossie came in,” he said. “We had a great win first up and we had a great run.

“The future looks good for the club.”

CENTRAL COAST MARINERS v NEWCASTLE JETS

Major Semi-Final, Second Leg
Bluetongue Stadium
Sunday Feb 10, 6pm

Teams:

Newcastle: (possible) Ante Covic (gk), Adam Griffiths, Jade North (capt), Stuart Musialik, Andrew Durante, Matt Thompson, Joel Griffiths, Tarek Elrich, Troy Hearfield, Mark Bridge, James Holland. Substitutes: Ben Kennedy (gk), Adam D’Apuzzo, Jobe Wheelhouse, Noel Spencer, Jason Hoffman, Song Jin Hyung, Denni (two to be omitted). Coach: Gary van Egmond.

Central Coast: (possible) Danny Vukovic (gk), John Hutchinson, Tom Pondeljak, Tony Vidmar (capt), Nigel Boogaard, Alex Wilkinson, Adam Kwasnik, Sasho Petrovski, Mile Jedinak, John Aloisi, Alvin Ceccoli. Substitutes: Matthew Trott (gk), Matt Simon, Andre Gumprecht, Greg Owens, Andrew Clark. Coach: Lawrie McKinna

FIRST LEG

Newcastle bt Central Coast 2-0 at Energy Australia Stadium

SCORELINE SECNARIOS FOR SECOND LEG:

Jets win – Jets win tie

Draw – Jets win tie

Mariners win 1-0 – Jets win tie

Mariners win 2-0 – Extra time and then penalties if required

Mariners win 2-1 – Jets win tie

Mariners win 3-0 – Mariners win tie

Mariners win 3-1 – Jets win tie on away goals

Mariners win 4-1 – Mariners win tie

(winner advances to grand final, loser plays preliminary final)

FORM GUIDE
Last five games: Newcastle LWWWW, Central Coast LDLWL

Head-to-Head: Newcastle 5, Central Coast 2, Drawn 5

At Bluetongue Stadium: Central Coast 1, Newcastle 1, Drawn 4

LAST FIVE MEETINGS:
Newcastle 2-0, EnergyAustralia Stadium, Jan 27, 2008
Newcastle 2-1, Bluetongue Stadium, Jan 12 2008
Draw 0-0, EnergyAustralia Stadium, Nov 25 2007
Draw 1-1, Bluetongue Stadium, Oct 7 2007
Newcastle 1-0, EnergyAustralia Stadium, Jan 5 2007

© AAP 2012

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