Late Matt Simon brace fires Sydney FC to victory over Central Coast Mariners

A brace from Matt Simon has guided Sydney FC to a 3-1 victory over the Central Coast Mariners to move Graham Arnold's men to the top of the A-League.

The visitors took the lead in the 34th minute from a well-worked move as Filip Holosko backheeled the ball into the path of Alex Brosque, who in turn fired a low ball into the feet of Shane Smeltz for the striker to slot his strike into the net.

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The Mariners were level within seconds as Fabio Ferreira raided down the flank and cut the ball back to Roy O'Donovan in the middle, leaving the forward with a simple shot to find the target.

However, the home side were reduced to 10 men before the break as Nick Fitzgerald was dismissed for his second bookable offence when he jumped into an aerial tussle with Milos Dimitrijevic and caught the midfielder in the face.

Sydney struggled to break down Central Coast in the second half, but found the decisive goal when Holosko picked out the run of Simon and the striker raided forward to fire his strike into the top corner.

Simon secured the win in the 88th minute when he converted from close range after Mickael Tavares had done well down the flank to beat his man and sent a pinpoint cross in to the striker's feet.