Melbourne Heart coach John van 't Schip was again left to rue his side's inability to maintain a lead after last night's 1-1 draw with Central Coast Mariners.

In extremely wet conditions, Heart hit the lead in the 49th minute when Matt Thompson tried his luck from behind the halfway line, getting a fortunate bounce over Mariners keeper Mathew Ryan.

But Melbourne conceded less than a minute later when Daniel McBreen was left free in the box and it was an all too familiar moment for van 't Schip who was disappointed by the equaliser which left his side with a mountain of work to do to qualify for the finals.

"After opening the scoring, to then concede a goal soon after meant we had to start all over again which wasn't good for the confidence," he said.

"It's happened often this season and it's something we will have to look at and analyse, but mathematically we are still alive.

"We just have to hope that all the results go our way and we also defeat Sydney next week."

Heart are one point behind sixth-placed Wellington Phoenix with just one match left in their regular season whilst the New Zealand club have three to play, starting with tonight's away clash with Adelaide United.