The Newcastle Jets have tonight played out a 0-0 draw with Sydney FC at EnergyAustralia Stadium in front of a crowd of 11,535.
The Newcastle Jets have tonight played out a 0-0 draw with Sydney FC at EnergyAustralia Stadium in front of a crowd of 11,535.
The match wasn-t without its drama, with the return of former Jets- Stuart Musialik and Mark Bridge in the sky blue of Sydney.
The two sides battled for possession and field position for the majority of the first half, with the Jets best opportunity of the opening stanza coming in the 7th minute when Ecuadorian import Edmundo Zura latched onto a clever through-ball from Joel Griffiths, only to see his powerful shot hit the side netting.
The second half was dominated by the Jets as they attempted to break down a resolute Sydney defence.
Wave after wave of Newcastle attack was consistently repelled by Sydney, with the Jets just lacking a final touch.
Newcastle-s best two chances of the second half came in the 48th and 70th minutes respectively, as James Holland-s cross-cum-shot rebounded off the cross bar.
Later, Adam Griffiths connected with a Jin-Hyung Song corner, only to see his header flash past Clint Bolton-s left post.
With fulltime looming, Sydney-s Mitchell Prentice was red carded following his second bookable offence.
Referee Peter O-Leary added three minutes of stoppage time, but neither side could find a late winner to add to the drama of the evening.
Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond was relatively pleased with his team-s effort, but believed the team could have claimed all three points.
“We-re happy that we didn-t get scored against, that-s something we definitely worked on, the defensive side of things. We-ve conceded 8 goals in 2 games and nobody-s going to win anything doing that.”
“Probably with a little bit more luck we could have got the 3 points, but to Sydney-s credit they defended well,” he said.
After a disappointing loss last round to Melbourne, the Jets- mentor was certainly pleased with the way in which his team turned things around at home to Sydney.
“The result we didn-t get but the response was fantastic and we can definitely build on that,” van Egmond concluded.
Match Details
Newcastle Jets Squad: 1. Ante COVIC (gk), 2. Adam GRIFFITHS (c), 5. James HOLLAND, 8. Matt THOMPSON, 9. Joel GRIFFITHS, 10. Jin-Hyung SONG, 11. Tarek ELRICH, 12. Jobe WHEELHOUSE, 23 Edmundo ZURA (6. Jesper HAKANSSON 64-), 25. Daniel PIORKOWSKI (3. Jade NORTH 73-)
Unused Substitutes: 16. Ben KANTAROVSKI, 20 Ben KENNEDY (gk)
Yellow Cards: Matt Thomson 9-, Tarek Elrich 84-, Jobe Wheelhouse 85-
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney FC Squad: 1. Clint BOLTON (gk), 2. Iain FYFE, 6. Tony POPOVIC (c), 7. Rob MIDDLEBY, 8. Stuart MUSIALIK, 10. Steve CORICA (5. Mitchell PRENTICE 70-), 12. Shannon COLE (27. Matthew JURMAN 72′), 14. Alex BROSQUE (11. Brendan SANTALAB 82-), 15. Terry MCFLYNN, 19. Mark BRIDGE, 23. John ALOISI
Unused Substitutes: 20. Ivan NECEVSKI (gk)
Yellow Cards: Mark Bridge 44-, Mitchell Prentice 82-, 88-
Red Cards: Mitchell Prentice 88-
Newcastle Jets: 0
Sydney FC: 0
Referee: Peter O-Leary
Crowd: 11,535
