A superb hat-trick for Clayton Taylor secured a sixth win in a row for the Newcastle Jets, as they stay on top of the table.
Lachlan Rose had a chance to open the scoring inside the opening ten minutes, having been played in behind by Daniel Wilmering. Rose fired towards goal, but dragged his effort narrowly wide. Just minutes later, Max Burgess tackled Dukuly inside the box, getting a touch on the ball before Dukuly went down. A penalty was initially given, but was overturned after a VAR review.
Dukuly was involved again in the 32nd minute. He drove into the box before cutting outside and firing towards the far post, narrowly missing the target. Adelaide had another chance soon after, as Brody Burkitt managed to squeeze the ball into the net right on the 45th minute, but he had his effort chalked off after being narrowly offside.
Straight after, the Jets opened the scoring to take a 1-0 lead into the interval. Mark Natta played the ball over the top of the defence to Wilmering, who just slowed the play up enough to bring Taylor into the action. Once receiving the ball, Clayton cut inside, before swinging a cross aimed towards Rose. The ball sailed over Rose’s head, finding it’s way into the net as Smits was rooted to the spot.
The Jets got off to a quick start in the second half. Burgess would find Bayliss in acres of space. The Kiwi Olympian would drive forward with the ball, before finding Clayton out wide, who confidently finished into the bottom corner, doubling the Jets lead six minutes into the second half.
Adelaide would quickly pull a goal back. Jovanovic cut the ball across the box, with Wilmering getting a touch to stop the first effort, but Jovanovic would react quickest, finding Juan Muniz who placed his effort past Delianov into the bottom corner.
Dukuly would bring the game level in the 64th minute, after Alagich found him with an incisive through ball. Soon after, Mark Milligan would go to the bench, replacing Will Dobson with Kota Mizunuma.
Clayton Taylor would finish off his hat trick in the 73rd minute. He pounced onto a loose ball before driving towards goal, calmy slotting his effort past Smits into the bottom corner, putting the Jets back ahead 3-2.
A few minutes after, Lucas Scicluna, Xavier Bertoncello and Ben Gibson were brought on for Eli Adams, Clayton Taylor and Lachlan Rose. Adelaide would push for the final 15 minutes plus injury time, but to no avail, as the Jets held firm to stay top of the table, and extend their club record of consecutive wins to six in a row.
The Jets head to Perth on Friday night, before returning home on the 22nd of February against Macarthur FC. Tickets to that game can be found HERE!
