Central Coast Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna insists they deserved something from their 1-0 defeat to Adelaide United. A 33rd minute free-kick to Brazilian playmaker Cassio proved the difference between the two sides, but McKinna was more worried about his side's potency in the final third.

"Credit to Adelaide, in the first 15-20 minutes they put us under a bit of pressure, which we knew they would because they had to win to get back in the mix.

"I thought we'd weathered the storm, and then they got the free kick, which hits the bar hits Danny (Vukovic) and goes in. That probably summed up our night, after that I don't think Danny had to make a save, but then again (Adelaide goalkeeper Eugene) Galekovic didn't either.

"We had two cleared off the line, but I think we failed at set pieces. You come off after the game and you look at it and say we tried, worked hard, but there wasn't a lot in the front third where you could say we were unlucky, we created that.

"After Adelaide scored they didn't create anything, we didn't create anything, we probably nullified each other out," McKinna said.

Central Coast right-back Brad Porter echoed McKinna's analysis of a scrappy encounter.

"Like Lawrie said, there was nothing too bad out there. The performance defensively wasn't too bad.

"We were probably a little bit strung out in the first half, but at the end of the day we've lost a game from a set piece. It was a great free-kick and credit to him, but other than that, it was a grind really and maybe a draw would have been a more just result.

"Owusu is a big presence up front, and they look to hit him and hit the wide guys running off him which they do quite well, but they didn't create a lot doing that, we were just unlucky," said Porter.