MARINERS coach Graham Arnold dropped the broadest hint yet his future may lie elsewhere, after suffering the agony of defeat on penalties in the elimination final against Perth.

Furious at the wrong offside call that allowed Perth to equalise, Arnold declared it was "maybe time for me to go to a bigger club" as he claimed the Mariners had been consistently penalised by match officials.

Central Coast had taken the lead in the first half, only to see Perth equalise 90 seconds later with a move in which striker Billy Mehmet was narrowly offside.

Despite a barrage of chances for the home side in the second half, including a missed penalty, the game limped to penalties and it is Perth that faces Brisbane next weekend.

A year after losing the grand final in a similar manner, Arnold, courted by Sydney FC for months, was aghast to watch Michael McGlinchey blaze the deciding spotkick over the bar.

"That's two in two weeks, last year we had three in the finals," he said of the controversial calls. "Maybe it's time I went to a bigger club, because decisions don't go the way of the little clubs.

"The players are devastated, it hurts when you keep getting bad decisions. It doesn't seem to happen the other way.

''We were the much better side, but we didn't take our chances, it shouldn't have gone to extra time. The thing that hurts is that we missed about five one-on-ones, a penalty and dominated the game."

For all Arnold's anger at the officials, he also knows the offside decision should have been immaterial, so many opportunities did his side squander.

Much of the second half was a blitz on the Perth goal, and it was all the more galling as it had taken the lead after a quiet first half hour.

When Oliver Bozanic swung over a corner the loose ball deflected off Travis Dodd to give Adam Kwasnik space to blast home from close range.

For 90 seconds there was jubilation, until Perth attacked and Josh Risdon's through ball found Mehmet down the right and his cutback was turned home by Shane Smeltz. The problem was Mehmet was offside.