90 min: Three minutes of added time is signalled moments before Duff spins on a sixpence down on the byline and makes inroads into the box. But he runs the ball out of play and the Mariners have a goal kick.

89 min: Duff scampers off down the City left, but he’s stopped in his tracks by the sight of the offside flag. Not long for the home side to hold on, although they’re hardly being put under pressure by the Mariners at the moment.

86 min: 9,402 have turned out to watch this one today. That’s either a decent crowd for Melbourne City or embarrassingly low considering a sizeable amount more came to watch when David Villa was here, depending on your allegiances it would seem.

85 min: City make another change at Paulo Retre replaces Melling, who has been impressive today.

81 min: Ten minutes or so for the Mariners to get out of jail with an unlikely equaliser. To be honest, they don’t really deserve a point from this one, but they’re still in with a shout now.

79 min: Here’s an interesting thing – the ref brandishes a yellow card to Melling for encroachment on the free-kick, after having jumped the gun and advanced beyond the sprayed line. The kick will be re-taken.

76 min: Oof! What a strike by Melling! A thunderous free-kick from the City player, which nearly takes the tips off Reddy’s fingers as he diverts it over the bar!

74 min: Dugandzic is taken off – to a rapturous reception – and James Brown comes on in his place.

72 min: Duffer has his name taken by the referee after impeding the taking of a free-kick. The Irishman doesn’t like it one bit and gives an earful to the man in blue.

69 min: Marino ‘controls’ an attempted clearance from Duff’s centre – I say ‘controls’ because he didn’t really know much about it as the ball smacked him square in the face, but it still falls nicely for him – but he can’t apply a finishing touch, Reddy making himself big to make the save from close range.

68 min: And so it begins...

67 min: Richárd Vernes has entered the fray for the Mariners as Sim’s fire is doused permanently. Well, at least until next week, although considering that earlier miss, Phil Moss might give some serious thought as to whether to give him another chance.

65 min: Sim still has some fire in his belly as he looks to haul his side back into this one with a long-range effort. Redmayne gets well behind the effort though and makes the save look simple.

63 min: City pour forward again, this time Williams spreading play out to Duff on the right, and the Irishman flashes a cross-shot across the face of goal. No end product this time, but City are certainly threatening to increase their lead. And with that, Williams is replaced by Mark Marino.

62 min: Here comes the first change of the day as Montgomery is replaced by Trifiro.

57 min: Fitzgerald’s frustration boils over now and he’s booked for dissent. That’s pretty representative of the Mariners’ fortunes at the moment. It doesn’t look good for them.

56 min: Williams is through here as City look to turn the screw on the Mariners, who are falling apart easier than a slow-roasted beef brisket. But the striker’s effort is ballooned way over the bar with just the keeper to beat.

55 min: That was pretty embarrassing for the Mariners, and not just because of the manner of their defending – assistant manager Wayne O’Sullivan was being interviewed by the Fox Sport telly team as the goal went in and he’d just said that if they can keep it tight for the next five minutes, then… oh, right.

51 min: Oh dear, calamitous defending from the Mariners in their own box as an attempted clearance is hit against another Central Coast body. They get away with it this time…

50 min: Down at the other end, Melling nearly capitalises on a miskicked clearance by Wielaert with a snapshot on goal. Reddy is behind it though and it stays 1-0.

49 min: Only time will tell how badly the Mariners will rue that miss, but Sim really should have found the back of the net then.

47 min: Matt Sim is in here! He must score! No, he can’t finish, despite being played clean through on goal by Duke… he fires straight at Redmayne with the goal at his mercy. Very disappointing.

Asked by the telly people what his side have to do after the break, Erik Paartalu responds: “Start like we did in the first half.” See, football’s not rocket science – just score goals, don’t let any in, and enjoy victory.

Anyway, more to come in 15 minutes or so. In the meantime, why not check in with Australia’s cricketers, who are in the middle of the second ODI against South Africa in Perth. Russell Jackson is manning the good ship HMAS Liveblog for the second innings (yes, we’re already an innings down). Join him here.

43 min: This shooting from distance thing really is infectious. Dugandzic lets fly before Duff cuts inside in similar fashion and has a pop, only from the other flank. The first effort goes wide, the second is saved – at the second bite of the cherry – by Reddy.

41 min: Ramsay is clearly inspired by the rocket-propelled efforts from some of his team-mates today… he picks the ball up 40 yards out and immediately shapes to shoot. Thankfully he takes a few touches to advance closer to goal, but still his effort doesn’t beat the first man, who makes a decent block.

39 min: Hutchinson swings his arms up into the air in frustration after he was forced to play backwards. He’s upset with his team-mates for their lack of movement ahead of him – and it’s true, the Mariners have run out of ideas over the last 10 minutes or so.

37 min: What a save by Reddy to deny a stabbed, half-volleyed effort by Hoffman from a corner! The keeper fumbled the delivery to the City full-back who had to wait for it to drop before letting fly. That could easily have been two.

36 min: This is entertaining stuff at AAMI Park. We’ve seen some decent periods from both sides so far and the scoreline could easily be more than 1-0.

34 min: Williams! So close to a second for City! What a strike. Reddy gets his fingertips to it, diverting the effort onto the crossbar and over for a corner. City are just coming back into the game now after that period of dominance by the Mariners.

31 min: Another excellent cross, this time by Hoffman (who’s making his 100^th appearance today, by the way) from City’s left, nearly reaches Williams in the middle, who is inches away from getting his outstretched boot to it.

27 min: Oooh! Maybe it’s just the angle I’m watching from, but Dugandzic looks like he’s nearly scored one of the goals of the season, as he cuts back inside from the left wing and unleashes a tremendous effort that whistles just wide of the mark. Oh, hang on, it is just the angle I’m watching from – replays show his effort to have been quite a way off the mark.

22 min: Melling gets the crowd all excited as the ball rolls into his path and he stabs an off-balance effort wide of the post. What he didn’t realise (or maybe he did and was just being selfish) was that Duff was just outside him in a far better position. The excitement evaporates.

19 min: Here come City though, with Williams who fires in a rather too well-struck cross towards the onrushing Duff, and the Irishman can’t control it and the ball pings off his shin and out of play. A flicker of a chance only.

17 min: Since the goal went in, it’s been all Mariners. They win another free-kick now, after a Ramsay foul, and Sim will swing in another delivery. It’s not a bad one, but no one reacts quick enough and the ball flies all the way through and out for a goal kick.

15 min: A deep cross is played into the City box towards Anderson, but the defender is all over his marker and the referee correctly blows up for a foul.

14 min: The Mariners with some neat build-up play now, and to be fair to the visitors, they’ve responded well to going down so early.

14 min: That’s a good stop by Redmayne to tip a crisp effort from Fitzgerald, 25 yards out, around the post, as the Mariners pose a threat for the first time today.

12 min: Reddy is forced into desperate action as he comes off his line to head clear a long ball through. City are probing with alien-like intensity.

11 min: Well, it’s been a pretty encouraging start for City, who are carrying on where they left off against the Roar last weekend.

6 min: Oooh! First chance of the game falls to Melling, who cuts inside from the City left and lets fly with a brisk effort that Reddy initially fumbles, but recovers to collect.

4 min: The pitch is half bathed in bright sunshine, making the TV cameraman’s job slightly more difficult than usual, I imagine, given he has to constantly twiddle the contrast knob so we can all see what’s going on.

2 min: Dugandzic looks to play in Melling, who is making his first appearance from the start for City today, as City seek to apply some early pressure. He gets to it, down at the byline, but the ball runs out for a goal kick.

Here come the teams, both in their usual kits – City in all white with that sky blue slash down one side on the front of their shirts, the Mariners in yellow shirts and blue shorts.

In terms of positions of the ladder, victory for City today will see them move absolutely nowhere – they’ll stay in sixth, but move to within a point of fifth-placed Wellington Phoenix. Three points for the Mariners will dislodge City from sixth. Lots to play for then.

What does it say about a manager when he starts talking about increasing levels of “belief”? Here’s the Mariners’ Phil Moss, trying to identify some positives from his side’s, er, slow start to the season.

We’re implementing a new style of football at the club and that will take time. If you look at Adelaide 12 months ago they went eight games without a win when Josep [Gombau] came into to develop football, so you have to be patient with those things. I can see with each game that the belief is becoming higher and higher. When you have a six-month off-season in this country it can take time to get going particularly when you’re trying to implement a new style of football. But we’re getting there. I’m seeing confidence levels rising.

Kick-off is in around 20 minutes. Meanwhile, let us take a moment to ponder the curious case of Liam Miller, the man who walked out on Brisbane amid claims he was ‘dissed’ by his manager and has signed a shorter-than-short-term deal under FFA’s National Team Player Replacement rule, that could see him make his debut tonight – as well as his farewell appearance. Quite how a player, even one as ‘storied’ as the former Manchester United and Celtic man, can make an impact in one game is beyond me. I stand to be corrected, but for Miller to integrate into the structure of a new team in the space of a few days is a big ask. Still, at least they’ll send out 11 players tonight.

Mike will be here shortly tasked with guiding you through this early evening’s only A-League clash. While you’re waiting for him to arrive, here’s what Paul Connolly thinks of the match-up:

If you include Wednesday night’s FFA Cup semi-final loss to Adelaide, the Central Coast Mariners have lost four on the trot. While they haven’t been humbled in any of them and are creating chances, these are still the choppiest waters they’ve had to negotiate for some time and confidence will be low during a period in which Phil Moss looks to rotate his squad given a rush of fixtures. Considering that, it’s tempting to think this gives their opponents this week, Melbourne City, the upper hand, especially since they are at home and relatively fresh, but City have some way to go to earn our confidence. Their win against the Roar last Saturday night was a good one, and just as good as the goals was the midfield creativity that created them. But that’s just their first win in 11 matches. City need to prove they can do it again. And again.