Perth Glory have shrugged off Bruno Fornaroli's controversial absence to claim a 2-1 victory over Central Coast and get their A-League Men season off the mark.
Aaron McEneff scored the winner as Glory earned a dramatic comeback victory in Gosford, despite an odd lead-up.
On Friday, coach Ruben Zadkovich hinted Fornaroli could be left out of his squad after a quiet opening two rounds, following a limited pre-season.
When Perth posted their line-up for Sunday's game on Instagram, without Fornaroli even on the bench, they commented saying: "Bruno is out due to injury."
But the Socceroo commented, saying "I'm 100% fit and ready @perthgloryfc wrong information."
The comment was later deleted.
"He was just unavailable," Zadkovich told reporters post-match.
"He ruled himself out with a with a rib injury on Friday, so couldn't finish the final session, which meant that he wasn't available for selection.
"So there's not really much going on there."
Zadkovich said he hadn't seen Fornaroli's comment.
"To be honest, I'm not sure (what the situation is). Who knows, social media - his account could have got hacked for all we know," he said.
"So I can't really comment, I haven't seen those comments but all I know is that I picked a squad that was available and they went out there and did the job."
The Glory coach wouldn't be drawn on Fornaroli's future.
"He's set a hell of a goal-scoring record in the league and like all the boys, he's extremely valuable to our club," he said.
"But like I say, the focus isn't on him at the moment."
Zadkovich was delighted with how Perth came back, then held on in a late Mariners attacking surge.
"We showed a lot of character, first and foremost," Zadkovich said.
"I keep talking about it, but the belief and the resilience of the group showing at the moment to face this little bit of adversity that we have at the start of the season.
"The boys have been huge in the three games, albeit the performance is nowhere near what we want."
The Mariners drew first blood when Sam Silvera rifled the ball into the bottom right corner in the 21st minute.
After being denied a handball penalty in the 34th, the Glory broke through two minutes before half-time.
Ben Azubel's diving header drew a brilliant one-handed save from Danny Vukovic, but Giordano Colli reacted fastest amid a static Mariners defence to bury the rebound.
In the 56th minute, Central Coast failed to clear their lines and McEneff stepped around Vukovic and sidefooted home the winner.
"Disappointing - we knew they'd come: nothing to lose, no pressure on them and I just felt today that we didn't find that rhythm that I expected and we expect," Mariners coach Nick Montgomery told reporters.
"We didn't create enough chances and we've given away two poor goals, sloppy reaction on both goals."
Garang Kuol came off the bench on return from Young Socceroos duties in Kuwait but couldn't break through.
Montgomery confirmed Kuol had been dealing with jetlag.
