(sportal.com.au) The Central Coast Mariners will play Adelaide United in the final of the A-League Pre-Season Cup after producing a come-from-behind 2-1 win over a 10-man Newcastle Jets outfit in a spiteful encounter at Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford.

Two penalties, one red card and 10 yellow cards were given in the fiery local derby in front of 7567 spectators in a match of two distinct halves.

Newcastle started the game full of running and had the better of the opening stanza, creating plenty of opportunities on the back of exciting attacking midfielder Nick Carle.

The Jets were able to convert the pressure into a goal in the 25th minute when Mark Bridge slipped a great ball through to forward partner Vaughan Coveny who slotted home a convincing strike to leave Central Coast keeper Danny Vukovic with no chance.

Newcastle were unlucky not to go two-up in the 36th minute when Carle curled a lovely free kick from the edge of the penalty area only for Vukovic to swat away the shot as it appeared to be going into the net.

Down the other end, Mariners midfielder Damien Brown went agonisingly close to levelling the scores in the 40th minute when his left-footed half volley was turned around the outside post by Jets keeper Ben Kennedy and the Newcastle went to the break holding a 1-0 lead.

But the game was turned on its head just after half time when Newcastle was reduced to 10 men when defender Shane Webb, making his first appearance for the club after being signed to a short-term deal during the week, brought down Mariners striker Adam Kwasnik in the penalty area.

Referee Ben Williams gave Webb a straight red for bringing down the lanky Central Caost forward from behind. Kwasnik took the place kick but failed to convert when Kennedy dived to low to his right to save the shot.

Amazingly, the Mariners received a second penalty just four minutes later when Kwasnik was again impeded in the area this time by Jets defender Andrew Durante. Regular penalty taker, veteran striker Stewart Petrie, stepped up for the Central Coast to smash home the equaliser.

With the man advantage, the Mariners began to exploit the overlap and looked certain to add another goal but desperate last-ditch defence from the Jets and some good saves from Kennedy kept the Jets in the match.

As a counter measure, Jets coach Nick Theodorakopoulos rotated his players and brought on striker Joel Griffiths whose darting runs started to cause trouble for the tiring Mariners defenders until Socceroos legend Tony Vidmar made his debut appearance in the A-League for the Central Coast in the 73rd minute to firm up the Mariners defence.

Both sides went close to grabbing a winner in the final 20 minutes but were unable put the ball in the back of the net as the action went end-to-end in exciting all out attack, and the sides were locked at 1-1 at the end of regular time.

Mariners defender Paul O'Grady eventually broke the deadlock six minutes into extra time when he flicked on Vuko Tomasevic's free kick from 30 metres out - the defender's header wrong-footed Kennedy and the ball dribbled into the corner of the Newcastle net.

Carle went close to pulling it back for the Jets late into extra time when his low-struck free kick was kept out by the Mariners keeper Vukovic and again just a minute later when he struck a left foot screamer that hit the post.

The Mariners, defending Pre-Season Cup champions managed to hold on for the win and will now host Adelaide United in the A-League Pre-Season Cup Final next Saturday night.

Central Coast Mariners 2
Petrie (pen. 52), O'Grady (96)

Newcastle Jets 1
Coveny (25)

Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford.
Crowd: 7567