A-League: Western Sydney Wanderers 2 Central Coast Mariners 0

The Western Sydney Wanderers enjoyed revenge of sorts for the A-League grand final loss to Central Coast by beating them 2-0 on Monday.

First-half goals from Tomi Juric and Youssouf Hersi were enough at Parramatta Stadium to see off a Mariners side that were outplayed for most of the game and looked tired after the club’s second outing in five days.

Victory will not make up for last season’s grand final defeat, but it has assured Tony Popovic’s men of second position heading onto Christmas. Central Coast stay sixth after a second loss in three games.

After a pulsating opening to what was a cracking contest, it was no great surprise to see the Wanderers go 1-0 up after 20 minutes via a classy finish from Juric.

Iacopo La Rocca’s initial attempt deflected off Marcel Seip and into the path of the unmarked Juric at the back post.

He positioned his body perfectly for the overhead kick, leaving Liam Reddy no chance with a powerfully struck shot from the edge of the six-yard box.

Hersi doubled his side’s advantage 13 minutes later.

The Wanderers poured forward in numbers and found Shinji Ono lurking out wide on the right. The former Japanese international sent a first-time ball across the face of goal for Hersi to slam home.