The Newcastle Jets have defeated Adelaide United 2-0 at Hindmarsh Stadium this evening to claim their second win away from home in as many weeks.
The Newcastle Jets have defeated Adelaide United 2-0 at Hindmarsh Stadium this evening to claim their second win away from home in as many weeks.
A goal on the stroke of halftime to skipper Matt Thompson and a second half penalty by Jin-Hyung Song gave the Hunter based club all three competition points.
The visitors set out their stall to attack, lining up with Michael Bridges, Labinot Haliti and Sean Rooney up front. And the move nearly paid dividends in just the 3rd minute when Rooney broke quickly from his marker on halfway and played the ball to Korean playmaker Song who fired his strike from the edge of the area just wide.
Unfortunately for the Jets, the influential Bridges then succumbed to a hamstring injury on eleven minutes and was replaced by marquee man Fabio Vignaroli, who had magnificent game in midfield after coming on.
It looked as though the home side would get on top at that point, with Travis Dodd getting on the end of a fine piece of work from Cristiano, before the Reds- captain volleyed agonizingly wide midway through the half.
Then, on the stroke of halftime, dynamic right-back Tarek Elrich ghosted in at the back post to pick up a Rooney cross and placed the ball perfectly into the path of Thompson to finish from close range.
The home side came out from the interval looking sharp, and Cristiano had the chance to level matters when he was played clean through on goal by Paul Reid, only for the Brazilian to hit his shot into the waiting arms of Neil Young.
The remainder of the half was a real arm-wrestle, but Newcastle pressed for a second goal through the impressive Rooney, who turned Robert Cornthwaite superbly on the edge of the penalty box before hitting his left-footed strike wide of the target.
With ten minutes to go, Scott Jamieson was ruled to have handballed inside the area when a fierce Jobe Wheelhouse strike was fired in his direction. Song then confidently stepped up to convert the spot-kick and made no mistake to secure the victory and send the Jets home with a valuable three points.
After the game Head Coach Branko Culina revealed his joy at securing two consecutive wins on the road.
“I thought we were very good,” he said. “But we-ll just take one game at a time and we-ll see what happens next week.”
“If we play as well as we have tonight and last week then we-ve got a chance (in our upcoming home games).”
The Jets will now return home to play back-to-back fixtures at EnergyAustralia Stadium on the 13th and 20th of December against Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury respectively. Tickets for these matches are available from www.proticket.com.auor by calling (02) 4915 2345.
Match Details:
Adelaide United squad: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 2.Robert CORNTHWAITE, 4.Iain FYFE, 6.CASSIO (10.Adam HUGHES 71-), 8.Kristian SARKIES, 9.CRISTIANO, 12. Paul REID (19.Mathew LECKIE 59-), 13.Travis DODD (c), 14.Scott JAMIESON, 18.Fabian BARBIERO (7.Lucas PANTELIS 71-), 21.Mark RUDAN
Unused substitutes: 20.Mark BIRIGHITTI(gk)
Yellow cards: Iain Fyfe 33-, Adam Hughes 74-
Red cards: Nil
Newcastle Jets Squad: 20. Neil YOUNG (gk), 4. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 5. Ljubo MILICEVIC, 6. Ben KANTAROVSKI 7. Jin-Hyung SONG, 8. Matt THOMPSON (c), 11. Tarek ELRICH, 12. Jobe WHEELHOUSE, 14. Michael BRIDGES (17. Fabio VIGNAROLI 11-), 15. Sean ROONEY (22. Kaz PATAFTA 75-), 25. Labinot HALITI (3. Adam D-APUZZO 64-)
Unused substitutes: 30. Dion SHAW (gk)
Yellow cards: Fabio Vignaroli 40-, Jobe Wheelhouse 86-
Red cards: Nil
Adelaide United: 0
Newcastle Jets: 2 (Thompson 45+1-, Song 80-(pen))
Referee: Kevin Docherty
Crowd: 8,502
