Socceroos hero John Aloisi scored a second half double as Central Coast beat Adelaide United 2-0 at Bluetongue Stadium to maintain top spot on the A-League.

Playing in his third A-League game, the Adelaide-raised striker broke his scoring duck with a calmly taken penalty in the 50th minute followed by a clinically struck left-footed volley in the 59th.

In front of an organised Mariners defence, Aloisi combined well with stand-in striker Matthew Simon, who was replacing the suspended Sasho Petrovski, to propel Central Coast six points ahead of Adelaide in top spot.

The home side had the best of the early exchanges, without creating any clear cut chances, before Adelaide's Travis Dodd wasted a golden opportunity by blasting over the bar from close range in the 23rd minute.

Central Coast almost opened their account in the 32nd when Tom Pondeljak's shot was superbly denied by Adelaide keeper Eugene Galekovic.

Galekovic got a hand to Pondeljak's strike but then had to scramble and trap the ball against the post as it dribbled dangerously towards goal.

The Mariners were denied the opener six minutes later when Simon headed home an Aloisi cross only to be ruled offside by referee Simon Przydacz to the disappointment of the 11,680 fans.

After his first half heroics Galekovic turned villain after the break when he brought down Aloisi after Mile Jedinak had released the Socceroos striker.

The United keeper was lucky to receive just a yellow card for the infringement and was powerless to stop a confident penalty strike by Aloisi.

The 31-year-old then made it a double when he manoeuvred past a defender and struck a left-footed volley from a John Hutchinson cross into the back of the net from the edge of the six yard box.

Adelaide nearly closed the gap through Diego Walsh, but his header from a Cassio free kick flew past the post in the 61st minute.

Cassio and Kristian Sarkies had long range efforts to reduce the two goal deficit but Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic wasn't troubled while defender Tony Vidmar also made a desperate clearance in front of an open goal during injury time.

Aloisi preferred to deflect praise onto his young strike partner Simon, despite his match winning double.

"Matty was brilliant, he was very good. Matty works hard, he held the ball up well today (and) he caused problems for the two stoppers for Adelaide," said Aloisi.

"Matty helped me out there and I hope that I helped him - and I hope that I can help him progress as a player because I think he's got a lot of talent."

Central Coast coach Lawrie McKinna was ecstatic with his side's physical and dominant defensive display.

"The back four, they defended very well against a very mobile attack," he said.

"Adelaide's probably one of the most dangerous teams going forward and I thought we defended against them very well."

Adelaide coast Aurelio Vidmar was left ruing missed opportunities and a puzzling lack of intensity from a side now in danger of slipping out of second place on the ladder.

"I think we were a little bit soft in that second half. I thought the first half was OK, we got into some really good areas. Probably our final pass let us down ... (for) most of the game the quality of our delivery was pretty poor," he said.

"(For) most of that second half physically they were so much stronger than us and we weren't even battling for anything and that was the tale of the second half.

"We didn't throw the towel in (but) Central Coast were much more desperate in that second half."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP