The Newcastle Jets have defeated the Melbourne Victory 1-0 tonight in a drama-charged game at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
The Newcastle Jets have defeated the Melbourne Victory 1-0 tonight in a drama-charged game at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
The game saw the return of Joel Griffiths, Adam Griffiths, Ben Kantarovski, and James Holland for Newcastle, but it was an 85th minute wonder-strike from teenager Marko Jesic that gave the Jets their first home win of the season.
Following fantastic lead up play from Jin-Hyung Song and Adam D-Apuzzo, the ball found its way to the impressive Jesic, who showed flawless technique to volley past Melbourne goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos.
Jesic-s goal was the icing on top of an exciting Newcastle Jets performance, played in front of 11,384 fans.
From the opening minute Newcastle showed their intent to erase the memories of their 5-0 loss to Melbourne in Round 3, with Dane Jesper Hakansson setting up Ecuadorian Edmundo Zura for a first time shot at goal.
With the Jets enjoying the majority of the play, Jesic found himself with a great double chance on 19 minutes, only to see his second attempt parried away for a corner.
On 26 minutes, the Jets were reminded of the threat of the high-flying Victory when Scottish midfielder Grant Brebner sent a 25 meter drive just wide of Ante Covic-s left post.
Two minutes later, Melbourne defender Rodrigo Vargas was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box, with referee Matthew Breeze awarding Newcastle a penalty.
Looking for his first goal since joining the Hyundai A-League champions, Edmundo Zura stepped up, only to see his penalty cannon off the woodwork.
Melbourne returned after half time looking the brighter of the two sides, with Costa Rican international Carlos Hernandez forcing Covic into a smart save on 49 minutes.
Just before the hour mark, the momentum swung heavily back in Newcastle-s favour as Victory striker Archie Thompson was sent off by referee Matthew Breeze.
With master tactician Gary van Egmond bringing on the attack minded trio of Song, D-Apuzzo and Joel Griffiths, Newcastle forced the ten man Victory onto the back foot, with consistent build up just lacking a final touch.
Jesic changed all that in the 85th minute with his magnificent left-footed strike on the turn to send the Jets all three points for the first time at home this season, and their fans into raptures.
Post-match, van Egmond was happy with the result and performance from his chargers but refrained from getting too carried away with the win.
“It was very pleasing, I think we-ve been on the cusp of doing something like that for a while but probably haven-t had as many bodies back as what we had tonight,” he said. “I was very happy with the effort and the commitment, and with that comes the result.”
“It was a very comprehensive display, but again, you look at the ladder, we-re not in the four and we need to keep on working and climbing ourselves back into that to get into this year-s Finals race.”
It doesn-t get any easier for the Jets, as they now prepare to take on local rivals the Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium next Friday evening.
Match Details:
Newcastle Jets Squad. 1. Ante COVIC (gk), 2. Adam GRIFFITHS (13. Adam D-APUZZO 68-), 3. Jade NORTH (C), 5. James HOLLAND, 6. Jesper HAKANSSON (10. Jin-Hyung SONG 68-), 8. Matt THOMPSON (9. Joel GRIFFITHS 76-), 11. Tarek ELRICH, 12. Jobe WHEELHOUSE, 16. Ben KANTAROVSKI, 23. Edmundo ZURA, 24. Marko JESIC
Unused substitutes: 20. Ben KENNEDY (gk)
Yellow cards: Jesper Hakansson 35-, Marko Jesic 90-
Red cards: Nil
Melbourne Victory Squad. 1. Michael THEOKLITOS, 2. Kevin MUSCAT, 7. Matthew KEMP (3. Michael THWAITE), 8. Grant BREBNER (18. Leigh BROXHAM 84-), 9. Daniel ALLSOPP, 10. Archie THOMPSON, 12. Rodrigo VARGAS, 14. Billy CELESKI, 15. Tom PONDELJAK, 16. Carlos HERNANDEZ (22. Nick WARD 65-), 19. Evan BERGER
Unused substitutes: 20. Mitchell LANGERAK (gk)
Yellow cards: Evan Berger 78-
Red cards: Archie Thompson 58-
Newcastle Jets: 1 (Marko Jesic 85-)
Melbourne Victory: 0
Crowd: 11,384
Referee: Matthew Breeze
