A Marko Jesic hat-trick has helped the Newcastle Jets overcome the Western Sydney Wanderers 4-0 in their rain-soaked National Youth League clash on Sunday.
A Marko Jesic hat-trick has helped the Newcastle Jets overcome the Western Sydney Wanderers 4-0 in their rain-soaked National Youth League clash on Sunday.
Jesic had his first after just three minutes when a through ball from Mitch Cooper saw him spring the offside trap and finish crisply, firing his shot under a diving Jerrad Tyson in the Wanderers goal.
An error from Tyson gifted Jesic his second after 13 minutes when a rather innocuous long ball skipped past the goalkeeper, who had come out of the area to deal with it.
Jesic rushed past a retreating Tyson for an easy tap-in.
For much of the remainder of the first half, the better of the chances fell to the Jets, who at times were able to get in behind the Wanderers’ defence at will.
But despite having the better of the chances, the Jets were unable to add to their tally in the first half.
While Western Sydney were able to carve out several chances in the latter stages of the half, strong games from the Newcastle central defensive pairing of Dominik Ritter and Taylor Regan restricted the home side to shots from range which gave Jack Duncan in the Jets goal few problems.
The half-time break saw heavy rain descend on Cook Park and it continued throughout the second half.
Despite the rain, the second half started in the same way as the first, with a Newcastle goal.
Kale Bradbery used some delicate footwork to get past his defender before rifling his shot past Tyson for Newcastle’s third.
Western Sydney then had some good chances to get on the scoreboard, but they were snuffed out by some fine positional goalkeeping from Duncan.
On the hour mark, Duncan was on hand to parry a dangerous low cross safely away, and when the Wanderers were able to mount pressure, he was on hand to deal with the aerial crosses.
With 10 minutes to go, Jesic had his third and the Jets’ fourth.
With the Wanderers pushing forward searching for a goal, the Jets broke on the counter.
Jesic was left one-on-one with the goalkeeper and – with the softest of touches – lifted the ball over the advancing Tyson to complete his hat-trick.
Newcastle Jets 4 (Marko Jesic 3, 13, 80, Kale Bradbery 48)
Western Sydney Wanderers 0
Western Sydney Wanderers: 1. Jerrad Tyson, 2. Alastair Quinn, 3. Jacob Williams (12. Jake McGing 55), 4. James Baldacchino, 5. Jayden Koulizakis (14. Mark Cindric 55), 6. Stepjan Paric, 7. Rocky Visconte, 8. Yianni Perkatis, 9. Daniel Barac, 10. Joseph Gibbs, 11. Nicholas Olsen (13. Zakeriya Elrich 55)
(20. Aaron Liddell)
Newcastle Jets: 1. Jack Duncan, 2. Andrew Hoole, 3. Taylor Regan, 4. Dominic Ritter(13. Nicholas Cowburn 59), 5. Luke Remington, 6. Mitchell Oxborrow(14. Brandon Lundy 55), 7. Bobby Russell, 8. Jacob Pepper, 9. Marko Jesic, 10. Mitch Cooper(12. Michael Finlayson 59), 11. Kale Bradbery
(20. Nicholas Hartnett)
