The Newcastle Jets Youth Team has been defeated 2-1 by Gold Coast United Youth at Southport Tigers.
The Newcastle Jets Youth Team has been defeated 2-1 by Gold Coast United Youth at Southport Tigers.
An early goal by Jason Hoffman was not enough for the visitors to claim a result from the tough round 15 National Youth League encounter, as a Steven Lustica double saw United claim all three competition points.
The athletic Hoffman was played clean through on goal in just the 5th minute of the match, and the Qantas Young Socceroo made no mistake when one-on-one with Gold Coast custodian Jerrad Tyson.
The visitors continued to pile on the pressure early on, with Tyson being forced to make saves from strikes by Hoffman and the lively Mirjan Pavlovic in the opening period.
United then settled into a rhythm and indeed restored parity when Lustica hit a rasping drive from distance in the 20th minute. The strike had the beating of goalkeeper Dion Shaw and dipped just under the bar to set up an entertaining final 70 minutes.
Lustica sealed the victory in the 62nd minute when he scrambled home the rebound after Shaw parried a stinging strike by Ben Halloran.
The result leaves the Jets in 7th position on the National Youth League ladder, 8 points ahead of Brisbane Roar Youth, their opponents for this Sunday, 17 January.
Match Details:
Gold Coast United Youth:
1.Jerrad TYSON [gk], 2.Steven TOPALOVIC, 3.Ben HARRISON (17.Richard GREER 60-), 7.Zac ANDERSON, 8.Steven LUSTICA (c), 9.Chris HAROLD, 10.Koh SATAKE, 11.Ben HALLORAN 12.Steve FITZSIMMONS (6.Mitchell BEVAN 60-), 14.Joshua BRILLANTE 16.Matt OSMAN (4.Neko VUJEVICH 46-)
Unused subs: 20.Tim ANDERSON [gk]
Yellow cards: Ben Halloran 14-
Red cards: None
Newcastle Jets Youth:
1.Dion SHAW [gk], 2.Jon GRIFFITHS, 3.Mario SIMIC (12.Matt SIM 46-), 4.James VIRGILI (13.Fabian IACOVELLI 55-), 5.Scott BALDERSON, 6.Taylor REGAN (c), 7.Will ANGEL, 8.Brodie MOOY (14.Jason NAIDOVSKI 59-), 9.Jason HOFFMAN, 10.Mirjan PAVLOVIC, 11.Jesse PINTO.
Unused subs: None.
Yellow cards: Jon Griffiths 53-
Red cards: None
GOLD COAST UNITED YOUTH 2 (Lustica 20-/62-)
NEWCASTLE JETS YOUTH 1 (Hoffman 5-)
Referee: Jarred Gillett
