A-League Grand Final: Brisbane Roar beat Central Coast Mariners on penalties to win championship

BRISBANE Roar are the champions of Australia after outlasting the Mariners in an epic A-League grand final that required a penalty shootout.

BRISBANE Roar are the champions of Australia after outlasting Central Coast Mariners in an epic A-League grand final.

Down and seemingly out trailing 2-0 with just three minutes of extra time remaining, the Roar broke Mariners hearts with goals to Henrique and Erik Paartalu, who scored in the final 60 minutes with a bullet-like header from a corner.

With scores locked at 2-2 at the end of extra time, the match went to penalties, with Roar goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos the hero, saving spot kicks from Daniel McBreen and Pedj Bojic to ensure Brisbane prevailed 4-2 in the shootout.

The Roar were faultless from the penalty spot, with Ivan Franjic, Paartalu, skipper Matt McKay and Henrique all converting.

It was a cruel end for young Mariners goalkeeper Mathew Ryan, who had starred during the two-hour contest to deny the Roar on a host of occasions.

Brisbane seemed to have fallen at the last hurdle in their bid for A-League supremacy, with Adam Kwasnik and Oliver Bozanic scoring twice in the first half of extra time to silence the crowd of 50,168, the fourth largest attendance in A-League history.

But Roar substitute Henrique gave the hosts late hope with a goal in the 117th minute, before Paartalu's late header, which shattered Central Coast's hopes.

The Mariners have now lost three grand finals in the six-year history of the A-League.

Paartalu, awarded with the goal of the season at the A-League awards night last week, rated his dramatic equaliser as the best of his career.

"I can't even remember what happened now, whether it came off my face or my head ... it couldn't feel any better," he told Fox Sports.

The holding midfielder admitted he was as stunned as anybody at his team's escape act.

"To be honest, I gave up hope and I thought it was one of those days," he said.

"Full credit to these boys for coming back at the death.

"We dominated for most of the first part of the game and you have to give credit to Central Coast they took their chances which we didn't."

Skipper Matt McKay struggled to come to terms with the "unbelievable" and "incredible" victory but Theoklitos credited his captain for inspiring the Roar at the extra-time break.

"Two-nil down with 15 minutes to go and Matty McKay pulled us together and said 'there's 15 minutes to go and how many times have we scored two goals in the last 15 minutes?'," the keeper said.

"Full credit to these boys we had a bit of luck but we deserved it.

"You never doubt this team they always fight back."

BRISBANE ROAR 2 ( Henrique 117m, Erik Paartalu 120m) drew CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 2 (Adam Kwasnik 96m, Oliver Bozanic 103m) after extra time at Suncorp Stadium. (Brisbane Roar won 4-2 on penalties). Crowd: 50,168. Referee: Matthew Breeze.

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