Resurgent Brisbane Roar catapulted into the A-League’s top four after an injury-time winner from Matt McKay stole a thrilling 3-2 win over Central Coast at Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday.

The match looked certain to be heading for a draw after the Mariners had fought back from two goals down to level the match through substitute Dylan Macallister in the 76th minute.

But McKay latched onto a failed Mariners clearance a minute into added time to maintain his side’s impressive unbeaten record in Gosford.

First half-goals to young gun Tommy Oar and striker Sergio van Dijk had the Roar up 2-0 and cruising before an uncharacteristic howler from captain Craig Moore allowed Nicky Travis to get Central Coast back in the match.

Macallister squared things up but the Mariners could not prevent a their third straight loss in front just 5684 fans, with Ange Postecoglou’s side leaping from equal last to fourth spot in the space of three days after they beat North Queensland 2-0 midweek.

The match exploded into life in the 10th minute when Oar scored to remind onlooking Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek of his talents ahead of Tuesday’s naming of a squad for next month’s Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait.

The zippy 18-year-old superbly collected an Adam Sarota ball, cutting inside Brad Porter with one touch and curling a shot past Danny Vukovic.

Scores should have been level in the 21st minute when Mariners striker Matt Simon produced one of the misses of the season, firing over the bar after Adam Kwasnik unselfishly squared a pass.

Simon’s blunder seemed even worse a minute later when Van Dijk scored his ninth goal of the season with a spectacular effort.

The Dutch-born striker received a ball from strike partner Henrique and steadied, unleashing an brilliant left-footed shot from 25 metres out.

The Roar looked well in control of the match until Moore had a brain snap to allow the home side back into the match in the 35th minute.
The usually-reliable defender hesitated when receiving a questionable pass from ‘keeper Griffin McMaster, allowing Travis to pounce on the ball and score the easiest of goals.

After halftime Central Coast failed to take another golden opportunity to equalise when Kwasnik did his best to out-do Simon’s miss by shooting over the bar from close range after a great Matthew Lewis Run.

Kwasnik was hooked by coach Lawrie McKinna a short time later and replaced with Macallister.

It proved a masterstroke when the striker tapped in an equaliser after Alex Wilkinson headed across goal from a Travis corner.

McKay latched on perfectly to Wilkinson’s failed clearance with a sweet volley and was relieved to have scored his first of the season.

“About time,” McKay said.

“This season I haven’t hit the target I think … it was a good time to do it and it puts us in a good position now.”

Postecoglou admitted he thought his side may have to settle for a draw at best but was proud how they fought on despite a short turnaround from Wednesday’s match.

“It was a gutsy effort today,” he said.

“To be honest when we conceded the second I thought ‘we’re just going to have to hang on here’, but we actually lifted.

“It’s been a fantastic week from a number of points of view but I think today the heart and the effort the boys put in was fantastic.”

Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna was pleased with his side’s comeback but felt his side should have done more with their chances.

“We should least have got a point out of that after being down 2-0,” McKinna said.

“We came back and we were confident we could go on and win it but we didn’t.”

© AAP 2012

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