Mariners focused on beating Brisbane and shy away from Premier's Plate predictions

ANOTHER Premier's Plate may look to be within their grasp but the Mariners have eyes only for their next match.

Graham Arnold

TALK of winning another Premier's Plate was quickly halted when Graham Arnold spoke after the Mariners thrashed Adelaide 3-1 at Gosford on Friday night.

The win puts the Mariners six points clear of Adelaide, who slip to equal third, and five points in front of second-placed Melbourne Victory with nine games remaining before the semi-finals.

While admitting his team was well placed, Arnold stopped short of making predictions this far out from the finals, insisting beating Brisbane on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium was his immediate concern.

"I don't care about the points too much; next week we've got Brisbane and we've got to focus on that," Arnold said.

"It's about maintaining our standards for the rest of the season. Anything can happen; we need to keep driving ourselves forward."

It was an amazing contest. The Mariners turned in one of the most dominant performances of the season in the first half, but amazingly went to the break a goal down after squandering several great chances.

The frustration continued early in the second half before the Mariners finally found the goalscoring touch.

Replacement Mitchell Duke was the difference, bagging a second-half double after coming on midway through the second period. His first was a clinical strike and for his second he showed great touch and evasion before slamming the ball home.

Arnold said he was not overly concerned about the score at half-time despite being down 1-0.

"It was the shortest team talk ever," he said. "It was simple: play like that again."

The return of Bernie Ibini from a trial in Belgium was impressive, while Nick Fitzgerald also did well after signing with the club just ahead of the match.