Central Coast midfielder Josh Nisbet has again put his hand up for a Socceroos berth by masterminding a 3-0 win over a lacklustre Macarthur to send the Mariners top of the A-League Men.
Nisbet scored a wonderful goal, his second in two games, then turned provider for teammate Ronald Barcellos to set up Sunday's victory at Campbelltown Stadium.
Though just 160cm tall, the 24-year-old has arguably been the league's best midfielder this season after moving into an attacking role, with seven assists and two goals.
"The system we play really suits him, we've found that position for him higher up," coach Mark Jackson said.
"His understanding of what we want to achieve has helped him get this far but it's all down to him and his mentality - and his willingness to learn and accept things and action them on the pitch.
"We're delighted for him."
Nisbet will hope his sparkling form can earn a call-up for Australia's World Cup qualifiers against Lebanon in Sydney and Canberra later this month.
Central Coast, who leapfrogged Wellington to head the table by virtue of their number of victories, have won four ALM games on the bounce while juggling a successful AFC Cup campaign.
Olyroos defender Jacob Farrell came off at halftime after injuring his right knee sliding in to meet a through-ball in the 11th minute.
"We haven't assessed him fully yet. But we didn't want to take any risks with him," Jackson said.
"He got through to halftime. So that's sometimes a good sign.
"But he'll get assessed by the staff and the doc and we'll have more information probably tomorrow morning."
Striker Alou Kuol will need stitches in his lip after a nasty head clash with the Bulls' Kealey Adamson.
The Mariners fly to India on Monday for the second leg of their AFC Cup zonal semi-final against Odisha, holding a 4-0 lead.
Fourth-placed Macarthur were lucky not to finish with 10 players after skipper Ulises Davila flew in on Barcellos in the 22nd minute and caught him with his studs, but only received a yellow card.
The Mariners took the lead in the eighth minute, Nisbet taking a wonderful right-footed touch to trap Mikael Doka's pass at the edge of the box, spinning onto his left and ripping a strike into the top corner.
Eleven minutes later, Davila lost the ball and it fell to Nisbet, who slipped through Barcellos to coolly finish past Filip Kurto.
In the 49th minute, Angel Torres's poor spot-kick, after Matt Jurman was harshly penalised for handball, was comfortably saved by Kurto.
Central Coast wrapped up the points six minutes later when Nisbet released Doka, who teed up new signing Ryan Edmondson to score as the Mariners sealed captain Danny Vukovic's 100th ALM clean sheet.
"We were beaten by the better team today," Bulls coach Mile Sterjovski said.
"The Mariners were quite hungry to win. We started too slow and it hurt us in the end."
