The Central Coast Mariners on Saturday night eliminated the more fancied Newcastle Jets from the FIFA Club World Qualifying championships in Gosford.

It took a penalty shootout to separate the teams who played to a goalless draw after extra time.

The hero for the Mariners was Dean Heffernan, who converted the all important kick after Paul Kohler and Ante Milicic missed for the Jets.

The match was marred by the injury to Andrew Durante, who broke his right leg in a tackle with the Mariners' Nick Mrdja.

The injury is a major blow for the 24-year-old as it could rule him out for 18 months.

The Jets went into the match as odds-on favourite to win but it was the low-key Mariners who put on the stronger display for the home crowd with Michael Beauchamp, Andre Gumprecht, Wayne O'Sullivan and Tom Pondeljak creating most of the goalscoring opportunities.

Newcastle's marquee signing Ned Zelic, whose signing hinged largely on his availability for this tournament, didn't exactly set the field on fire and limped off in the 61st minute after asking to be substituted.

It took Newcastle 53 minutes to create their first clear shot at goal while Ante Milicic tested Mariners keeper John Crawley as early as the third minute, but he was equal to the task.

Newcastle's next best chance came in the 69th minute when Franco Parisi, in his first touch of the ball, fired against the post.

Labinot Haliti, a refugee from Kosovo who arrived in Australia five years ago, belted the rebound only to be denied by Crawley.

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