# 2007–08 Central Coast Mariners FC season

The 2007–08 season was the 3rd season of competitive football played by Central Coast Mariners. The Mariners ended the season as A-League Premiers after topping the table in the regular season, but runners-up in the Championship after losing to local rivals Newcastle Jets in the 2008 A-League Grand Final.
In the transfer window the club signed experienced striker Sasho Petrovski and former Adelaide United midfielder Greg Owens. Left back Dean Heffernan also returned to the club after completing a loan spell with 1. FC Nürnberg. Club captain Noel Spencer was released, joining Sydney FC.
After a mixed pre-season, finishing fourth in the 2007 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup, the Mariners began the 2007–08 A-League in good form, undefeated for their first five games. Winless runs in October and January saw a number of clubs threaten Central Coast at the top of the table. This included a 5–4 loss to Sydney FC in December, breaking the record for goals in an A-League match. The mid-season addition of Socceroo John Aloisi proved successful, with the striker scoring a team-high seven league goals. A win over Wellington Phoenix in the final game of the regular season secured a first Premiership for the club, ahead of Newcastle Jets on goal difference. In the Finals Series, the Mariners advanced to the Grand Final by defeating the Jets 3–2 over two legs. The Jets, however, claimed the Championship with a 1–0 win in controversial circumstances at the Sydney Football Stadium.

## Background

The Mariners ended the previous season in sixth, missing out on the Finals Series.

### Transfers
#### In

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date |
| 22 | FW | Sasho Petrovski | Sydney FC | Free | 12 February 2007 |
| 23 | MF | Mile Jedinak | Sydney United | Free | 26 February 2007 |
| 12 | MF | Greg Owens | Adelaide United | Free | 12 March 2007 |
| 8 | DF | Dean Heffernan | 1. FC Nürnberg | Loan return | 6 June 2007 |
| 30 | GK | Andrew Redmayne | Australian Institute of Sport | Free | 19 June 2007 |
| 4 | MF | Ian McAndrew | Central Coast Lightning | Free | 1 August 2007 |
| 24 | FW | Damian Mori | Adelaide City | Free | 21 September 2007 |
| 25 | FW | John Aloisi | Free agent | N/A | 19 October 2007 |
| 26 | DF | Alvin Ceccoli | Free agent | N/A | 3 January 2008 |

#### Out

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date |
| 14 | DF | Vuko Tomasevic | Free agent | N/A | 25 January 2007 |
| 2 | DF | Wayne O'Sullivan | Free agent | N/A | 25 January 2007 |
| 4 | MF | Noel Spencer | Sydney FC | Free | 16 February 2007 |
| 8 | MF | Jamie McMaster | Free agent | N/A | 18 April 2007 |
| 12 | FW | Stewart Petrie | Free agent | N/A | 18 April 2007 |
| 1 | GK | John Crawley | Retired | N/A | 19 June 2007 |
| 24 | FW | Damian Mori | Free agent | N/A | 13 October 2007 |

## Home-and-Away Season

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 30 | 25 | +5 | 34 | Qualification for 2009 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 2 | Newcastle Jets (C) | 21 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 25 | 21 | +4 | 34 | Qualification for 2009 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 3 | Sydney FC | 21 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 28 | 24 | +4 | 32 | Qualification for 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship and Finals series |
| 4 | Queensland Roar | 21 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 25 | 21 | +4 | 31 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 5 | Melbourne Victory | 21 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 27 | |
| 6 | Adelaide United | 21 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 31 | 29 | +2 | 26 | |
| 7 | Perth Glory | 21 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 27 | 34 | −7 | 20 | |
| 8 | Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 25 | 37 | −12 | 20 | |
* ↑ First place qualifies for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage. Winning the 2008 A-League Grand Final earns qualification for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage, unless the Grand Final winners are also first place, in which case the Grand Final runner up qualifies.
* ↑ Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

## Player statistics
### Key

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute. Players with number struck through and marked † left the club during the playing season.
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | A-League | A-League | A-League finals | A-League finals | Pre-Season Cup | Pre-Season Cup | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline |
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | | |
| 1 | GK | AUS | Matthew Trott | 4 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | FW | AUS | Matt Simon | 4 (14) | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 (16) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | AUS | Paul O'Grady | 2 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2 (5) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | AUS | Ian McAndrew | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | MF | AUS | Brad Porter | 5 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (4) | 0 | 5 (7) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | MF | GER | André Gumprecht | 8 (6) | 0 | 0 (3) | 0 | 5 | 1 | 13 (9) | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | AUS | John Hutchinson | 18 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| 8 | DF | AUS | Dean Heffernan | 15 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 17 (2) | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | AUS | Nik Mrdja | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 (2) | 1 | 6 (2) | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | AUS | Tom Pondeljak | 13 (5) | 2 | 2 (1) | 0 | 2 (2) | 0 | 17 (8) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | AUS | Damien Brown | 7 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 (1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | AUS | Greg Owens | 10 (2) | 2 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 11 (4) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | AUS | Tony Vidmar | 15 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 | 19 (2) | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| 15 | DF | AUS | Andrew Clark | 12 (5) | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 (7) | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | AUS | Nigel Boogaard | 13 (1) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 (1) | 1 | 20 (2) | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | AUS | Matthew Osman | 6 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 11 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | AUS | Alex Wilkinson | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | AUS | Adam Kwasnik | 12 (7) | 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 20 (7) | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| 20 | GK | AUS | Danny Vukovic | 17 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 22 | FW | AUS | Sasho Petrovski | 18 (1) | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 25 (1) | 9 | 11 | 1 |
| 23 | MF | AUS | Mile Jedinak | 19 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 8 | 1 |
| 24 | FW | AUS | Damian Mori † | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | AUS | John Aloisi | 12 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | AUS | Alvin Ceccoli | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | AUS | Andrew Redmayne | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |