Marco Tulio stars as Central Coast Mariners thrash Adelaide United to grab second place on the A-League ladder

It was a night to remember for Marco Tulio and the Central Coast Mariners at Coopers Stadium.

The Mariners celebrate duiring their win ove Aedeaide United.Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Central Coast Mariners have secured second spot on the A-League ladder with a stunning display at Coopers Stadium against a shell-shocked Adelaide United.

Inspired by a superb brace from Brazilian attacker Marco Tulio, the Mariners won 4-1 on Friday night to ensure that they, and not Adelaide or the Western Sydney Wanderers, would join premiership winners Melbourne City in having the opening weekend of the finals series off.

Adelaide, who started the night in second spot, dropped to third on the ladder, with the Wanderers finishing fourth after losing 3-2 to first-placed City at AAMI Park.

The Reds, whose late season form and defensive frailties are a real cause of concern heading into the finals series, in which they will host either Wellington Phoenix or Perth Glory – barring any shock results or scorelines on Saturday night – in a sudden-death affair next weekend..

The Wanderers will also host a do-or-die finals match next weekend almost certainly against arch-rivals Sydney FC, who are three points clear in fifth spot heading into their clash on Saturday night against the Newcastle Jets at Allianz Stadium.

Mariners star Marco Tulio celebrates at Coopers Stadium.. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Adelaide captain Craig Goodwin was frustrated with his side’s “naive” performance.

“It’s a bit naive,” Goodwin told Paramount +.

“We know Central Coast are good on the counter attack and I think all four goals came from positions when we had the chance to attack. Our rest defence was poor.”

The Mariners were the hungrier of the two teams in the first-half and deservedly led 2-0 at the break.

A superb counter-attacking move culminated in the Mariners taking the lead in the 23rd minute through their Brazilian attacker Marcco Tulio.

The Mariners sprung out of their own half, with a Sam Silvera pass finding Jason Cumming, who in turn laid off the ball first time into the path of the unmarked Tulio, who showed composure to control the ball before dinking it over oncoming goalkeeper Joe Gauci.

Beni N’Kololo doubled the visitors lead in the 41st minute before a sublime strike from Tulio in the 57th minute sealed the Mariners’ win.

Central Coast substitute Harrison Steele provided the icing on the cake with his first A-League goal in the 87th-minute.

Ryan Kitto netted a consolation goal in stoppage-time for the Reds but it was too little, too late on a poor night for Adelaide.

“We’ll take it as a learning curve. We’re still in the finals, and in the top four,” Goodwin said.

“We know on our day we can beat anyone. We’ve shown that this year. We just have to grind out those little errors and work hard on the training track.

“I said at the beginning of the year I had a good feeling about this group, and we’ve played ourselves into a position where we have a home elimination final and we’ll build on that,”

Mariners hero Tulio was delighted to net a double.

“I’m very happy to score the two goals but the most important thing was for us to get second spot and the win,” he said via a translator.