A luckless Newcastle Jets lost 2-1 to Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium on Saturday night. Despite large periods of dominance by the Jets, goals to Matthew Leckie and Marcos Flores ensured the Reds claimed maximum points. It was an open and entertaining match which ended in a few tense minutes for the home side when Sean Rooney scored a late g
A luckless Newcastle Jets lost 2-1 to Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium on Saturday night. Despite large periods of dominance by the Jets, goals to Matthew Leckie and Marcos Flores ensured the Reds claimed maximum points. It was an open and entertaining match which ended in a few tense minutes for the home side when Sean Rooney scored a late goal for the visitors.
A lively Newcastle Jets had some good moments in the opening stages of the match. Chinese international, Zhang Shuo, was in the starting side for the first time and he showed some early positive signs linking up well with Michael Bridges. Despite the early advantage, the first real opportunity fell to Adelaide when Matthew Leckie shot in the 13th minute after receiving the ball from a corner but his shot was blocked by a Tarek Elrich.
The Newcastle Jets continued to pass the ball around in midfield and their dominance was being rewarded with corners. In the 20th minute, a calm and aware Michael Bridges received the ball from Newcastle-s fourth corner of the evening. He attempted to bend the ball around Galekovic but his shot drifted wide and posed little threat to the Adelaide keeper.
In the 22nd minute, Adelaide drew first blood when Cassio took on and beat Jeremy Brockie before crossing the ball with his left foot to find an unmarked Matthew Leckie who headed the ball past Ben Kennedy into the back of the net.
The Newcastle Jets best opportunity came in the 29th minute after a surging run by Adam D-Apuzzo who linked up with Michael Bridges. His next pass brought Jeremy Brockie into play and his shot beat a diving Eugene Galekovic but rebounded off the post. The ball came quickly to D-Apuzzo who shot on target but his shot was blocked by Galekovic.
In the 33rd minute, a corner found its way through a crowded penalty area and was met by Zhang Shuo but his stab at the ball went straight to Galekovic and the Newcastle Jets went in at half time down one goal to nil.
The Newcastle Jets began the second half much like the first with some early dominance but they were again unable to convert this dominance into goals. In the 53rd minute, Zhang Shuo was released on the left hand side and he delivered a low cross which saw a backtracking Adelaide defender lose his footing but the ball failed to find a Jets shirt. In the 60th minute, Bridges again released Jeremy Brockie who this time beat Galekovic and found the back of the net but he was ruled off side and the goal did not stand.
In the 65th minute, Flores ran through the centre of the midfield leaving a number of Jets defenders tracking in his wake. He started with Kantarovski who was left sprawled on the ground and then wrong footed Milicevic and then Elrich. Ben Kennedy attempted to close the angle but could do little to stop Flores shot from hitting the back of the net.
At 2-0, the sting seemed to go out of the Jets attack and Branko Culina could have been forgiven for wondering where the Jets next goal might come from. In the 89th minute, a mistake from Cassio in defence saw Sean Rooney pounce on a loose ball and side foot it past Galekovic and into the back of the net.
At 2-1 and deep into injury time, the Newcastle Jets had a final opportunity when they won a free kick which saw Nikolai Topor-Stanley rise above the Adelaide defence to head the ball in the Adelaide six yard box but he was unable to angle the ball onto the target.
After the match, a disappointed Michael Bridges stated “it-s been one of those nights where we haven-t been able to get the goal that we needed, it-s taken a slip up to give us the confidence to try to get back into the game, but the boys had character and the work rate tonight was fantastic, we tried to hang in there, unfortunately tonight we have come away with nothing”.
The Newcastle Jets will host the Perth Glory at Energy Australia Stadium on Friday 17th September.
Adelaide United 2
Newcastle Jets 1
Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
Crowd 9571
Referee: Ben Williams
Adelaide United squad: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 4.Iain FYFE, 5.Daniel MULLEN, 6.CASSIO, 7.Lucas PANTELIS (c) (26.Joe KEENAN 89-), 8.Adam HUGHES, 9.Sergio VAN DIJK, 10.Marcos FLORES (17.Iain RAMSAY 78-), 12.Paul REID, 19.Mathew LECKIE, 24.Cameron WATSON (2.Robert CORNTHWAITE 63-),
Substitutes not used: 20.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk),
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Ben KENNEDY (gk), 3. Adam D-APUZZO, 4. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 5. Ljubo MILICEVIC 6. Ben KANTAROVSKI 7. Kasey WEHRMAN (21.Brodie MOOY 77-) 8. Michael BRIDGES (c) (19. Ali ABBAS 69-), 11. Tarek ELRICH, 16. Jeremy BROCKIE, 18. Marko JESIC 9. Zhang SHUO (15.Sean ROONEY 58-)
Substitutes not used: 40.Matthew NASH (gk),
Yellow cards: MILICEVIC 28-
Red cards: Nil
