The Central Coast Mariners claimed a first victory over Melbourne Victory in 2,664 days on Sunday, in a frenzied clash that descended into late madness and finished 3-2 to the Mariners.

Mariners veteran Matt Simon scored two late penalties as his side twice fought back from a goal down to snatch a dramatic late victory.

Victory opened the scoring through Kiki Dobras in the eighth minute, his heavily deflected shot from the edge of the area leaving Mariners goalkeeper Mark Birighitti stranded.

Mariners striker Jordan Murray hit the equaliser on the stroke of half-time with a powerful header, just his second goal of the season.

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As the hosts pushed forward to end their 18-game winless run against Victory, it looked as though defender Kye Rowles had put the Mariners in front when he blasted the ball into the net from close range following a scramble in the box.

But his 52nd-minute strike was ruled out by VAR due to a tight offside.

VAR was at it again in the 67th minute as veteran Central Coast striker Matt Simon was brought down by James Donachie in the box when an aerial ball was played in his direction.

But the referee waved off the Mariners’ loud appeals, booking Milan Duric for his complaints.

Fans chanted ‘VAR’ repeatedly, but the video referee checked the decision before agreeing with the on-field referee.

Matt Simon had only been on the field for four minutes at the time of the incident.

Kye Rowles’s unlucky afternoon worsened when he was the victim of a cruel own goal in the 78th minute.

Adama Traore’s misdirected cross from out wide bounced off the far post and a retreating Rowles bundled it into his own net.

REACTION: Social media goes wild for absolutely bananas match

Then the match descended into utter madness.

In stoppage time, an aerial ball towards Matt Simon inside the box was ruled a Simon handball by the on-field referee.

But VAR intervened and showed that Victory defender Donachie had handled the ball, and a penalty was awarded.

Simon converted from the spot in the 94th minute, making the score 2-2.

Two minutes later, Simon sparked a furious stoush after he accidentally backed into Adama Traore, sparking push and shove that descended into a mass scuffle.

Simon, Traore and Victory’s Leigh Broxham were all handed yellow cards, while Simon’s shirt was ripped.

The drama wasn’t finished. Mariners midfielder Michael McGlinchey was brought down in the box while chasing a through ball and the referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot.

VAR checked the decision but did not overrule the call, and Matt Simon hit the resulting penalty in the 100th minute!

A furious Victory coach Marco Kurz remonstrated with the fourth referee, and received a red card as the final whistle blew on one of the most unbelievable matches the league has ever seen.

The 3-2 win ends an 18-game winless streak against Victory dating back to April 2013.

A brawl erupts in the frenzied A-League clash. Source: FOX SPORTS

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REACTION: Kurz disappointed but ‘respects’ decisions

After the whistle, Kurz told Fox Sports he was particularly disappointed at the last penalty decision.

On the first penalty, he said “I think the hand(ball) rule is always hard. You can discuss the hand decision every week, it’s hard.”

On the second, he said “I think the last penalty wasn’t a penalty. It’s shoulder by shoulder, he has no chance to touch the ball. But that’s my personal opinion.”

He repeated those claims in his post-match press-conference.

“We have to respect the decision from the ref,” he said.

“The first was from Don (Donachie). it’s very hard to defend Simon in the box. It was touching from both sides and he touched the ball with his hand but, from Brox (Broxham), it was not a penalty. That’s my personal opinion.”

He also described his sending-off as ‘normal’.

“It’s part of the football game - everybody wants to win,” the German manager said.

“If you are 2-1 winning and concede two penalties in overtime, it’s normal that you have some emotions and that was part of the game today.”

Fox Sports expert Mark Bosnich agreed with the Victory manager that the final penalty was a mistake.

Bosnich said “I thought the referee got every VAR (decision) right and the VAR - except for that last one. I don’t think that last one was a penalty.

“I thought he got it exactly right about Matt Simon (with the denied penalty). Basically he went in to Donachie on purpose to try and gain a penalty.... I don’t think that’s a penalty.

“The handball was a handball”, saying the first awarded penalty was correct. But, he said, “that last decision for me was wrong.”

Stajcic praises ‘amazing spectacle’

Central Coast coach Alen Stajcic said “It’s just an amazing spectacle, to have so much theatre and drama. You can’t write a book like that.

“To have Simmo (Matt Simon) step up and have to take two penalties in injury time, that’s the thing that dreams are made of.”

And in his press conference, he said the club harbours genuine hopes of making the finals - now sitting just two points outside the top six.

“Just in terms of quality of football, I think we’ve shown we’re capable of being in that finals series, but showing it and proving it and getting the results are a different story,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of hard work to do to keep improving week by week.

SIMON: ‘Get the boys going’

Matt Simon - who became the Mariners’ first-ever player to score 50 times for the club - told Fox Football the clash with Traore was meant to inspire his team in the dying minutes.

“We needed something like that at this time and moment ... I thought I’d just get the boys going and try and push in the last five minutes.”