Western Sydney was coming off a midweek AFC Champions League draw with FC Seoul and Central Coast took full advantage to bounce back from last week's drubbing by Brisbane with a win.
John Hutchinson receieved a fitting tribute from the Mariners faithful as he walked out for his last match as a player at Bluetongue Stadium.
It took less than two minutes for the Mariners to spark things into life.
Anthony Caceres won the ball inside the Wanderers half and found 17 year-old Anthony Kalik who played it straight into the path of Josh Rose. The left-back burst into the area and slotted his shot beyond Dean Bouzanis at the near post to make it 1-0 for Central Coast.
While there were chances at both ends through the remainder of the first half - including a Wanderers effort that forced the Mariners forced to clear off their own line - neither side could capitalise.
Central Coast had an excellent chance to add to its advantage after the break with Fabio Ferreira slaloming his way into the area and teeing up Nick Fitzgerald.
Even though Western Sydney was throwing numbers forward, Ferreira's pace was causing problems at the back and Bouzanis was forced to block the Portuguese winger's shot from a tight angle on 71 minutes.
But the Mariners attacker skewed his shot high and wide from close range.
In the final 15 minutes Fitzgerald turned provider for Rose in the box, but the defender was unable to repeat his second-minute effort and skewed his shot wide.
Ten minutes from time, Hutchinson was taken off and was congratulated by team-mates given a standing ovation for his decade-long service to the club.
There was also time for local hero Matt Simon to make his last apperance for the Mariners at home when he came on for Isaka Cernak late on.
Despite the loss Western Sydney still made history in the final few minutes by bringing on 19 year-old Shayne D'Cunha, who became the A-League's first Indian-born player.
Interim Central Coast coach Tony Walmsley was pleased his side responded to the 6-1 "car crash" loss to Brisbane last week to give Hutchinson and Simon a winning home-ground farewell.
"I think it was well deserved," Walmsley said.
"We've had a couple, Brisbane aside, good performances and got little out of them, so I really wanted the work they've put in over the last few weeks to be rewarded and we got that today.
"Obviously the pain that they felt last week was put to good use in training and I'm pleased for all of them."
Although the ACL campaign has taken its toll, coach Tony Popovic said the Wanderers were still focused on winning A-League games and should have converted more chances against the Mariners.
"We created chances but we're saying the same thing every week," Popovic said.
"The difference tonight was we've been starting games very well the last month and always getting on top and getting a goal or being on the front foot for the first 20, 30 minutes.
"Today was something a little bit different for us. We started very slow, got caught, got punished and then we grew into the game.
"Unfortunately we couldn't get the goal."
Popovic was clearly frustrated with four-game referee Adam Fielding and said when asked about referee standards: "I don't know if it was his first game or not, but I think he had a very tough night."
