The Central Coast Mariners and the Newcastle Jets have battled out a 1-1 draw in a tense Hyundai A-League derby at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford on Sunday afternoon.
Mariners midfielder Tom Pondeljak scored the first goal in the 62nd minute before Jets striker Mark Bridge equalised in the 82nd to snatch a point for the Jets in front of a crowd of 12,622.
The result keeps the Mariners three points clear of the Melbourne Victory at the top of the table while Newcastle are a point further back in third place.
Newcastle had the best of the early stages of the match. The first chance on goal came when Brazilian midfielder Denni put a couple of good balls through to Joel Griffiths in close proximity to goal in the 14th and 16th minutes. But on both occasions Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic defused both opportunites comfortably.
The Mariners' first chance came when Pondeljak put a shot on target but straight to Jets keeper Ante Covic in the 25th minute.
Striker Sasho Petrovski had the Mariners best first half chance when Damian Mori ran onto a long ball before crossing to Petrovski who put it into the right side of the net.
The match came to life after the break and it was Pondeljak who proved Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna had pulled the right rein by giving the veteran midfielder his first start of the season.
Pondeljak collected the ball on his left foot before switching to his right to shoot into the right hand side of the net from 20m out.
With Socceroos squad member Dean Heffernan coming off the bench two minutes later the Mariners appeared to gain some ascendency and Adam Kwasnik just missed extending the lead when he fired off to the right in the 73rd minute.
Despite being a goal down, Newcastle kept fighting and were rewarded with Bridge's 82nd minute goal.
It came when Adam D'Apuzzo earned a free kick after a yellow card offence by Andrew Clark.
D'Apuzzo's kick into the box produced a goalmouth scramble before Bridge scored off his second shot, brushing the hand of Clark on the way into the net.
Both teams battled hard in search for a late winner, but to no avail.
Central Coast Mariners 1 (Pondeljak 62)
Newcastle Jets 1 (Bridge 82)