Injured Adelaide United duo set to miss ALM finals

Injured Adelaide United striker Hiroshi Ibusuki appears certain to join teammate Jay Barnett on the sidelines for the rest of the A-League Men finals.

Ibusuki suffered a flare-up of a calf injury in Adelaide's 2-1 loss to Central Coast in the first leg of their semi-finals on Saturday night.

And Barnett, who didn't front against the Mariners, has been ruled out for the rest of the season because of a hamstring injury.

The injury blows come ahead of the Reds' trip to Gosford to meet the buoyant Mariners in the deciding leg of their semis.

Ibusuki limped off during Saturday night's second half - he missed the last two games of the regular season with the same injury.

Barnett didn't feature at all: on the eve of the fixture, Adelaide coach Carl Veart said the midfielder was ill, but he came clean after the semi-final loss.

"Barnett's done for the rest of the season ... it's a recurring injury that he has been having on and off the last few weeks and it's just no good," Veart said.

Veart's bluff came during a Friday media conference when he also aimed a jibe at Central Coast for overtly celebrating their 4-0 win over the Reds in the last regular season game.

"They played it like it was their grand final and you saw the way they celebrated afterwards, they came here and put their eggs in the one basket," Veart said pre-game.

The comment didn't slip past Mariners coach Nick Montgomery.

"There was comments that we came here and celebrated like winning the grand final - I never saw that," Montgomery said after Central Coast banked their first finals win in nine years.

"We celebrated like we finished in second spot and got an Asian Cup spot.

"A lot of talk this week, mind games or whatever you want to call it - the boys were fully focused.

"It was about coming here and doing the job we did.

"But it's not over, it's only halfway. We know we have got another tough game next weekend."

The Mariners host the second leg in Gosford next Saturday night.