Newcastle Jets demolished Central Coast Mariners 8-2 in Saturday s F3 derby in the highest-scoring match in A-League history.
The second-placed visitors scored five goals in the last 37 minutes in a madcap encounter at Central Coast Stadium to conclude their regular season in style and send the Mariners to the bottom.
Ernie Merrick s side had lost their previous three games but they looked set to get back to winning ways after only 24 minutes, with Joseph Champness, Roy O Donovan and Riley McGree putting them 3-0 up.
Connor Pain, who had earlier hit the post, got a goal back before half-time but McGree struck his second 53 minutes in to set up an extraordinary remainder of the match.
Lachlan Jackson headed in Dimitri Petratos corner before O Donovan struck the sixth from the penalty spot, and McGree completed his hat-trick with a composed finish 15 minutes from time.
Trent Buhagiar fired in another consolation but Petratos got in on the act barely a minute later, as the Jets hit eight goals in a single game for the first time.
15 have set the record for the most goals against a single team in an regular season, scoring 15 goals in three games against the Mariners this campaign (5-1, 2-0, 8-2). Annihilate.
— OptaJason (@OptaJason)
13 The record was previously held by , who scored 13 goals against the Fury in 2010/11 (3-2, 2-0, 8-1). Red.
— OptaJason (@OptaJason)
The Mariners finish bottom of the table due to Wellington Phoenix s earlier 2-1 win over Melbourne City.
Bruno Fornaroli s stunning strike put the visitors ahead at QBE Stadium before a double from Sarpreet Singh sealed the comeback win.
11 have scored 11 goals from outside the box this campaign, five more than any other team in the competition. Pike.
— OptaJason (@OptaJason)
