Sydney FC's resurgence continued under John Kosmina while Perth Glory finally lost patience with coach Ron Smith as the A-League season reached its halfway mark this weekend.

Sydney made it two wins from two games under Kosmina since he replaced sacked coach Branko Culina, with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Newcastle on Saturday night, thanks to a fine late strike from English import Michael Bridges.

Smith then joined Culina in the A-League scrap heap on Sunday after he was sacked as Perth coach following Friday's 1-0 loss to Wellington, which extended their near year-long run without a win to 18 games.

His assistant, former Socceroo Dave Mitchell will take the reins for the rest of the season.

The weekend's round also saw Central Coast reclaim top spot on the ladder, with a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind win against reigning premiers Melbourne.

They deposed last week's leader Adelaide, who fell 1-0 at home to Queensland on Friday.

The Mariners (20 points) will be far from comfortable at the top however, with Adelaide (17), Newcastle (17), Queensland (16), Sydney FC (15) and Melbourne (14) still well in touch.

While Kosmina was delighted with Sydney's second straight win, he said the clutter at the top of the ladder meant his side would have to produce similar performances week-in-week-out to be a title threat.

"To be successful over the course of a season - and we've only got a short season, its 21 games - you need to put a series of results together, " Kosmina said.

"Either you get one long one (winning run) or you get three or four (wins) at a time and if you can do that then you are half a chance of finishing were you want at the end of the year.

"No-one's won the championship yet ... there's till ten rounds left.

"It's like football - we won (Saturday night's) game in the final twenty (minutes), not the first twenty.

"So we'll wait till the last few games of the season and hopefully we're there."

Wellington (11) maintained touch with Friday's vital win, while Mitchell faces an arduous task of rescuing the Glory, who are languishing in last with six points.

He faces a tough assignment with his first match in charge against Newcastle on Friday.

Perth co-owner John Spence said of the decision to sack Smith: "We had extensive discussions yesterday ... Ron is a total gentleman, but it has clearly came about because in the first half of this season our results have been disappointing.

"We are not where we want to be."

Mitchell has already warned the Glory players both his and their careers are on the line as they bid to make something of the season.

"Desire and commitment has been lacking in some aspects and certainly that is something I want to bring," Mitchell said.

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