The visitors made the perfect start when Lopes fed the ball out to Inoue and the winger stepped inside to bend a precise right-foot shot around goalkeeper Dylan Peraic-Cullen and in via the inside of the post.

Inoue forced Peraic-Cullen into action again four minutes later when his persistence saw him beat Alfie McCalmont to Lopes’ pass but this time the Central Coast goalkeeper was equal to the task, pushing the shot wide for a corner.

Peraic-Cullen was soon at full stretch to claw Takuma Nishimura’s header away as it arced towards the top corner and Lucas Mauragis thumped Lopes attempt to convert on the rebound clear as Marinos pressed for a second.

Nishimura was narrowly wide with a low strike from distance in the 25th minute but five minutes later the Japanese side doubled their lead as Central Coast were unable to clear defensively.

It was Inoue who started and finished the move, delivering the ball into Ryuta Koike in the penalty area. He found Riku Yamane who returned the ball to Koike and, after Mauragis’ attempt to intercept, possession returned to Inoue and he calmly swept his shot home.

Lopes claimed the third when Marinos goalkeeper Hiroki Iikura quickly fed Yan Matheus and, after striding half the length of the field, he fed his compatriot and the striker netted via a slight deflection.

The assistant referee denied Marinos a fourth midway through the second half when Brian Kaltak put the ball in his own net following a cutback by Ryo Miyaichi, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

But the visitors did add to their tally in the 70th minute when Amano, another second half replacement, curled an exquisite left-footed free kick up and over the Central Coast wall and past the static Peraic-Cullen.