Western Sydney Wanderers 0 Central Coast Mariners 2: O'Donovan double boosts visitors' finals chances

Roy O'Donovan scored a second-half brace as Central Coast Mariners boosted their A-League finals chances with a 2-0 win at Western Sydney Wanderers.

Wanderers dominated for large periods of Sunday's fixture at Spotless Stadium, where Nico Martinez and Terry Antonis failed to take first-half opportunities after being played in by Mitch Nichols.

Substitute Brendon Santalab was also wasteful with a tame effort when left unmarked shortly after entering the fray in the second half.

And those misses proved costly as O'Donovan opened the scoring with an empathic penalty in the 65th minute after Wanderers defender Jonathan Aspropotamitis was penalised for holding in the area.

The Mariners then put the game to bed when skipper Nick Montgomery played a superb clip over the top of the home side's defence and O'Donovan latched onto the pass before chipping stranded goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic.

The win leaves the Mariners just two points adrift of sixth-placed Wanderers in ninth.