Roar overcome Mariners 

Queensland Roar recorded their second successive win after overcoming a severely-understrength Central Coast 1-0 in their A-League clash at Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday.

A fifth-minute goal to Roar defender Joshua McCloughan proved enough to win a match that was marred by a controversial send-off on Mariners defender Brad Porter.

The Mariners, who were already without Danny Vukovic, Nigel Boogaard (both Olyroos duty), Tony Vidmar (suspended), Alex Wilkinson, Paul O'Grady and Nik Mrdja (all injured), lost Damien Brown (hamstring) and Adam Kwasnik (calf) to injury within the first 20 minutes.

Things then went from bad to worse when they were reduced to 10 men when Porter was shown a straight red card in the 31st minute.

Porter slid into a tackle on Roar midfielder Matt McKay and appeared to get the ball in what looked to be a legal challenge.

But referee Peter O'Leary raced over and had no hesitation in brandishing a straight red card in a decision that even left Roar coach Frank Farina shaking his head in disbelief.

Given everything had gone against them, the Mariners did well to stay in the match, and had several opportunities to equalise in the second half.

The loss cuts their lead atop the A-League ladder to just one point, after second-placed Newcastle beat Wellington 2-1 earlier on Sunday.

The Roar leapfrog Sydney into fifth place and join Adelaide and Melbourne on eleven competition points.

Queensland opened the scoring just five minutes in off an early Matthew McKay corner.

McKay's ball fell to Central Coast's Dean Heffernan, but the midfielder failed to clear the ball, leaving McCloughan with a simple, side-footed finish from five metres out to put the visitors in front.

Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna brought Greg Owens and Matthew Simon on after Brown and Kwasnik limped off within 13 minutes of each other.

It was Simon who missed a golden chance to equalise for Central Coast in the 27th when he headed over the bar from a Tom Pondeljak corner.

The Mariners produced some dangerous attacking forays before their momentum was halted dramatically with Porter's dismissal.

O'Leary was escorth halftime and fulltime and earned a nasty reception from the 8000 home fans.

Pondeljak missed a good chance in the 49th minute after getting one-on-one with Roar 'keeper Liam Reddy and Sasho Petrovski went close in the 58th but only managed to win a corner after a superb display of ball control in his own box.

Simon could have stolen a draw at the death with a shot just a metre out from goal in the 89th minute but Reddy produced a fine save to ensure the three points.