Eight years after Melbourne Victory recorded the second of two 1-1 draws in Launceston, their newly-arrived Victorian neighbours went one better by holding on for a 1-0 win over the same opponent and current ladder leaders Central Coast Mariners.

Wing-back Connor Pain scored the only goal after just five minutes, waltzing through the Mariners defence via a delightful one-two with Besart Berisha to give the sinister green pyrotechnics their only release of the match.

United coach Mark Rudan was understandably delighted with his erratic team's fourth win in six.

"I'm really happy for the players because it's a big challenge to play the league leaders and knock them off," he said.

"Take nothing away from that performance, I thought we were fantastic. It was a complete team performance today. If anything, we should have put the game to bed a lot earlier than we did.

"We can beat anybody. We've just got to find the consistency to do it week-in, week-out."

Rudan's Mariners counterpart Alen Stajcic said his side were poor in the first half and lacked the finishing quality to salvage a result.

COVID restrictions meant previous crowds of up to 8000 at the venue were never likely to be repeated as 3203 gathered at UTAS Stadium, enticed by the prospect of one player who has come from European greatness and another heading for it.

United captain Alessandro Diamanti played for a host of Serie A clubs in his native Italy and scored that country's winning spot-kick in the Euro 2012 quarter-final victory against England.

Now 37, the club's marquee performer and reigning player of the year lit up the twilight fixture with flashes of his brilliance which even stretched to one Beckham-esque attempt from near the halfway line.

Mariners' not-so-secret weapon was less obvious as 19-year-old wonderkid Alou Kuol spent three-quarters of the match on the bench as he prepares for a lucrative end-of-season transfer to Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart which is expected to secure the survival of the embattled NSW outfit.

Launceston made the most of its moment in the national spotlight, UTAS Stadium looking particularly expansive with the rectangular pitch in the centre of the oval rather than tight up against the main stand as in previous fixtures.

Organisers did their best to ensure a future generation of Tasmanian soccer fans with a pre-match cavalcade of junior players from Launceston City, United, Northern Rangers, Riverside Olympic, George Town and North Launceston Eagles.

United brought a healthy contingent of supporters across Bass Strait, the more vocal of which even managed to encourage some home-state fans into a rendition of Iceland's famous clap chant.

With Berisha - both United's and the A-League's all-time leading scorer - looking surprisingly sprightly for a 35-year-old and Iker Guarrotxena proving as difficult to contain as he is to spell, the nominal home team dominated much of the match and should have led by much more than Pain's tidy strike.

However, Kuol nearly proved his worth in his late cameo, racing away from a tiring backline but unable to beat United keeper Ryan Scott at the near post.

Mariners centre-back Ruon Tongyik had an eventful night, picking up a yellow card in each half, plus the obligatory red to follow, only for the last two cards to be rescinded by an earlier offside.

The United team will remain in Launceston for the week and return to UTAS Stadium on Thursday for a 7.05pm kick-off against Wellington Phoenix.