Central Coast Mariners have seized control of their A-League Men finals destiny after escaping an enthralling derby clash with a 4-2 win over the Newcastle Jets.
Their place in the top six on the line, a goal from Brazilian attacker Moresche and a brace from Jason Cummings in the opening stanza seemingly had them sitting pretty at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.
A volley from Lucas Mauragis and an own goal from Jacob Farrell in the opening five minutes of the second half, though, threw a 3-2 shaped-spanner in the works.
Suddenly, the hosts had the wind at their backs as they sought to keep their own finals chances on life support as well as deal a heavy blow to their rivals.
And when Savvas Siatravanis pounced on Mark Birighitti's save of an Archie Goodwin effort to score in the 82nd it appeared the momentous comeback had been completed.
But a potentially season-defining twist then arrived: VAR intervening to disallow the goal for a Goodwin push on Kye Rowles.
On the park for less than two minutes, 17-year-old Garang Kuol then delivered a final blow for the Mariners in just his fifth ALM game.
Their second derby win of 2021-22 secured, coach Nick Montgomery's side have now vaulted into fifth position on the ALM table on 33 points.
And while sixth-placed Wellington also have 33 points and retain a game in hand, now seventh- and eighth-placed Macarthur and Sydney FC are one and two points adrift of the Mariners despite playing one game more.
Their next test will come against second-placed Western United in a week's time.
Newcastle's thoughts will turn to planning for next season and serving as a spoiler in remaining games against Macarthur, Western, and, on the final day of the season, the Mariners.
