There wasn't a lot to choose between Central Coast Mariners and Sydney FC in Sunday afternoon's pre-season Cup match at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford and neither coach, John Kosmina from Sydney FC, nor Lawrie McKinna from the Mariners, seemed too concerned about the result when the game had finished, but Sydney FC probably have the most to think about in the weeks ahead, after going down 3-0.
Sydney FC played some good football, but they were principally denied by an assured performance from one-time 'bad-boy' Mark Bosnich, the Mariners' trialling goalkeeper.
The former Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea glove-man had a blinder on debut, acrobatically tipping over seemingly goal-bound shots from Terry McFlynn, in the 29th minute and from Mitchell Prentice in the 60th.
Apart from that, Bosnich never put a foot wrong in commanding his area and to cap it all off produced a penalty save from Sydney FC captain, Steve Corica, in the 70th, before going on to save with his legs, from McFlynn again, in the 74th.
His opposite number, Clint Bolton, was constantly brought into play by his defenders passing the ball back for him to clear - as if giving the experienced keeper much needed practice in that area - but it was a tactic that led to one of the three goals that the Mariners scored in their sound win over the old enemy.
Alex Brosque was a lively figure up front for Sydney, but Dez Giraldi, his strike partner, was a rather subdued presence.
Brosque, though, was unable to find the target, despite being sent in to face Bosnich more than once, only giving Bosnich any concerns at all when hitting the right hand upright within striking distance, albeit from a tricky angle, in the 27th
It had been a very even game until then with Sydney FC looking constructive, if a little tentative in the first half hour, with Brosque nodding wide in the 40th after a nice cross from Nikolas Tsattalios.
When Central Coast did eventually take the lead, in the 42nd minute, it came when Bolton had once more been asked to clear the ball by a team mate, only finding Mariners' skipper, Alex Wilkinson who was lurking in centrefield.
Wilkinson then quickly released Ahmad Elrich, who then played Brad Porter through to face Bolton, who, in turn, could not prevent the youngster tucking the ball in off the left hand upright from close range having dashed through the heart of the Sydney defence.
After that, the Mariners took a grip on the game and, encouraged by saves from Bosnich, were able to keep going forward in search of more goals.
Central Coast were denied by Bolton in the 50th after good work on the left from David D'Apuzzo, who got around his man on the byline before slipping a pass to Elrich who then found Macalister.
The latter had his two rapid-fire shots both blocked by Bolton at point blank range, while at the other end, seven minutes later, Bosnich was able to save with his legs from Brosque.
After another save by Bosnich, on the hour mark from Prentice, it took only another minute for the hitherto anonymous Sasho Petrovski to find some space inside the box and slip the ball under Bolton to make it 2-0.
Nik Mrdja came on as a substitute for Petrovski in the 63rd and having been impeded in the box was called upon to take a penalty, before he had been given much time to settle.
Sydney FC defender, Iain Fyfe, was cautioned for a foul inside the box on Elrich and Mrdja stroked home the penalty with ease to make it 3-0, in the 69th.
Only a minute later referee Chris Beath was on the spot again to award a penalty when a Sydney player came down in the box.
Steve Corica took the penalty and Bosnich guessed correctly diving to his left to push the ball away.
Before Corica could react the Mariners' man Wilkinson scrambled the ball away for a corner.
A 25 yard speculator was the last effort from Sydney, through McFlynn, but the ball went well over the bar in the 86th.
It had been a gloomy afternoon at the stadium, with the lights on from the start at 3pm, but the Mariners were able to reflect on a job well done at their half-empty home ground.
There was nothing in the performance of either team to suggest exciting times ahead as both played competently and with lower intensity than usual.
The media conference after the game was quite long, with much of the focus of course being on Mark Bosnich. John Kosmina, when asked what positives he could take out of the match stated that "I was really happy with the way we played, I mean last week we weren't really all that flash but we ground out a result, but today didn't work that way." "We created a lot more chances this week than last, and I mean Bosnich was the difference. He was always going to have a good game today..... he made a couple of great saves."
Mark Bosnich, after he checked to see his tie was straight, answered his first question before Australian football media for some time - on whether he was pleased with his performance. He said that we was, "but one swallow doesn't make a summer! If today went another way, I would still say the same thing, it was a really good start, the most important thing is that the team won. It was a pleasure to play."
Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna was of course upbeat, "Credit to everyone out there today, I think we put together a good makeshift team as we had about seven boys missing! Mark pulled off a couple of good saves and we had a couple of good finishes and everyone has pulled up alright, Andrew Clark is suspended for next week but we'll have Andre Gumprecht and Dean Heffernan fully fit, plus Nigel Boogaard back."