Central Coast Mariners' derby at Newcastle Jets had three goals, a brawl and two bookings - and that was just the first 20 minutes.

Unfortunately for our Australian cousins, Central Coast, they were unable to recover from the early 2-1 deficit at EnergyAustralia Stadium, meaning their rise up the Hyundai A-League ladder would be stalled once more.

Manager Lawrie McKinna commented: "It's very frustrating, you can go out and play some good football, dominate the second half, and not get anything, but that's the A-League. We're just disappointed. You don't want to get beaten by your local rivals. We've done well for 60 minutes but it's not enough."

It took just eight minutes for the derby to move out of first gear, Tarek Elrich's ball in from the right flicked on by Labinot Haliti, and falling for Michael Bridges, who stepped off his right foot to send a powerful left footed drive past Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic.

Six minutes later and there was double trouble for the Central Coast, Fabio Vignaroli's free kick was cleared by Matt Simon, it appeared into Nikolai Topor-Stanley's arm, however, referee Delovski waved play on, allowing Haliti to smash home the hosts second goal from close range.

In typical derby style, there was no shortage of animosity, a John Hutchinson tackle on Jin-Hyung song raised the ire of Vignaroli, the Italian taking exception, and sparking a brawl involving all but a handful of players, and resulting in bookings to Dean Heffernan and Vignaroli.

Before the 20-minute mark, Mariners pulled a goal back. A wicked cross whipped in by Matthew Crowell sat up for Adam Kwasnik, who did brilliantly to wrestle in front of Elrich and fire a side-footed volley home.

Nigel Boogaard, Heffernan, Michael McGlinchey, Kwasnik and Brad Porter all went close to levelling for the Mainers but the Jets hung on to claim local bragging rights