Marcos Urena, Mariners' Urena breaks A-League duck in win over Perth Glory

Costa Rica international Marco Urena has broken his A-League duck to help lift Central Coast to a thrilling 2-1 win over Perth Glory at HBF Park.

The Mariners skipped out to a 2-0 lead in Tuesday night's match after first-half goals to Urena and Matt Simon.

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But in a frenetic second half, Glory pulled one back in the 65th minute through Bruno Fornaroli, before launching wave after wave of attack in search of an equaliser.

Perth came close on numerous occasions, with Andy Keogh fluffing a header, Daniel Stynes having a close-range air swing, and Fornaroli sending a header just over.

Glory captain Diego Castro gave the Mariners all sorts of headers around the penalty area.

But the Mariners stood firm under the intense heat, with the win lifting them four points clear on top of the table.

The result was a big morale booster for Central Coast after last week's heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Adelaide.

"Coming off the back of a really difficult loss to take, it was important for the team to show good character and resilience and bounce back tonight with a win," Mariners star Daniel De Silva told Fox Sports after the match.

"I think we showed that tonight - stuck it out right to the end. We are really happy with the three points."

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Glory were made to pay dearly for two sloppy defensive efforts in the opening half.

Simon opened the scoring in the 6th minute when two Mariners players headed the ball into the box, where the veteran striker was able to chest it down and score from close range.

The lead was doubled in the 40th minute when Urena, playing his seventh match for the Mariners, scored a header under minimal pressure from a De Silva free kick.

Glory were unlucky to have the free kick paid against them, with Stynes clearly winning the ball in his challenge against Mariners winger Daniel Bouman.

Perth players screamed out for a penalty in the 23rd minute when the ball cannoned into the hand of Mariners defender Ruon Tongyik.

The VAR had a look at the incident, but deemed Tongyik hadn't moved his arm to an abnormal position.

Perth had 64 per cent possession in the opening half, but failed to fire a single shot on target.

Glory coach Richard Garcia introduced Castro into the fray after half-time, and he made a triple substitution in the 58th minute to bring on Keogh, Kosuke Ota, and Brandon Wilson.

The moves helped to give Glory a much-needed spark and they were duly rewarded when Ota's bouncing cross was headed home by Fornaroli in the 65th minute.

There was some controversy about the goal given Keogh looked to be in an offside position when the ball bounced past him.

The goal was ticked off by VAR, and it extended Fornaroli's goalscoring streak at HBF Park to eight consecutive matches - a new A-League record.

The previous record was seven set by Adam Taggart at McDonald Jones Stadium.