Hutchinson, who spent over a decade in Gosford as a player, reflected on the bittersweet outcome of the match but couldn’t hide his pride in his team’s performance.

“We were good and controlled the game from start to finish. It’s been an absolute pleasure coaching this team over the past 11 months, and it brings me so much happiness to see this kind of dominance,” said Hutchinson, with the victory taking Marinos to the top of the standings with two matches remaining.

“Kenta (Inoue) was outstanding tonight. He played 70 minutes and scored twice—his performance was excellent. All the players performed well; we showed our class with great individual displays.”

For Central Coast, it was an evening to forget. The home side never recovered after going down 3-0 in the first half with head coach Mark Jackson not hiding his disappointment with Mariners out of the running for a spot in the next round. 

“Very, very disappointing, particularly that first-half performance,” said Jackson. “For the first time, I feel compelled to apologise to our supporters because that first half performance was unacceptable.

“We went into the game with a clear plan of how we wanted to play, and that was reinforced by our previous game against Vissel Kobe. Even though we lost that match, we delivered a very strong defensive display. We knew we needed to replicate that tonight.

“However, to defend against a top team like Yokohama, everyone must be willing to work hard, stick to the game plan, and stay connected. In the first half, we had players who didn’t do that. That’s why we went into the half-time break 3-0 down.”