The Newcastle Jets have secured a 3-2 victory over North Queensland Fury in round 20 of the Hyundai A-League played at EnergyAustralia Stadium this evening.
The Newcastle Jets have secured a 3-2 victory over North Queensland Fury in round 20 of the Hyundai A-League played at EnergyAustralia Stadium this evening.
An own goal combined with a fantastic Jin-Hyung Song finish and a classy strike from substitute Sasho Petrovski was enough to see Newcastle claim a club record-equalling fourth straight win, despite Fury forward Dyron Daal netting a double for the visitors.
While the match took some time to get going it was North Queensland who enjoyed the first clear cut opportunity to take the lead. With Netherlands Antilles international forward Daal being played in by Jason Spagnuolo on 15 minutes, only a fine double save from Jets custodian Neil Young meant the score remained goalless.
Ten minutes later the Jets gained the advantage courtesy of dubious defending from the North Queensland defence. Kaz Patafta had hustled well to win the Jets a corner, but Matt Thompson-s resultant in swinging set piece looked harmless enough until it was turned into the goal by Fury defender Chris Tadrosse.
This goal seemed to galvanise the Jets and as a result Branko Culina-s men began to maraud forward in search of a second. And, that second arrived in the 38th minute when Korean livewire Song doubled the Jets- lead.
Good lead up work from Labinot Haliti and Sean Rooney ended in a goalmouth scramble, with the effervescent Song smashing home from an acute angle when the ball had finally made its way out of the chaos being created on the goal line.
Perhaps feeling comfortable at 2-0 up the Jets lost concentration just before halftime to hand the Fury a foot back in the game. Indecisive defending allowed Daal the chance to lash home from five yards.
Culina introduced Petrovski for Patafta at the interval but despite the swap it was North Queensland who looked more likely to add to their tally.
And on the hour mark Fury would score their second. Receiving the ball on the edge of the area following an Adam D-Apuzzo defensive header, former Ajax Youth Team product Daal shot accurately to restore parity for his team.
After scores drew level the game picked up another gear and while Petrovski had a goal controversially ruled out for offside, Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler blazed over from six-yards when it seemed certain he would score.
Iraqi international Ali Abbas entered the fray for the indefatigable Haliti with fifteen minutes to play. This substitution paid dividends in the 83rd minute, when Abbas helped tee up Petrovski for the winner.
With Abbas firing in a cross from the left side, Petrovski chested down before expertly swivelling around his marker and slotting home from a few yards, in turn marking his 100th Hyundai A-League appearance with a stunning strike.
Culina played his final substitution card just a minute before time with Angelo Costanzo replacing tireless 20-year-old Sean Rooney, but Petrovski-s winner was the last decisive action in a match which kept the Jets- march to the Hyundai A-League finals rolling on.
Culina was understandably delighted with the way his team fought on to maintain the side-s impressive winning streak leading into the Christmas period.
“When you-re winning you don-t necessarily have to play pretty football, and we certainly didn-t do that today, but because we-re winners we just kept winning.”
“If you compare the way that we played against Sydney, Adelaide, or even Gold Coast last week, you-d probably say it wasn-t as fluent.”
“(But) we, today, achieved what no other team in the A-League has, including Melbourne and Sydney, we won four in a row. When you get to that stage, there-s a little bit of stage fright there as well because you think ‘oh my God, is it really possible that we can do that?- And I think that played its part, but credit to the players,” Culina stated.
The Jets will take to the road next week, flying out on Christmas Day to prepare for a Boxing Day showdown with Perth Glory at ME Bank Stadium.
Match Details:
Newcastle Jets Squad: 20. Neil YOUNG (gk), 3. Adam D-APUZZO, 4. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 5. Ljubo MILICEVIC, 7. Jin-Hyung SONG, 8. Matt THOMPSON (c), 11. Tarek ELRICH, 12. Jobe WHEELHOUSE, 15. Sean ROONEY (2. Angelo COSTANZO 89-), 22. Kaz PATAFTA (9. Sasho PETROVSKI 46-), 25. Labinot HALITI (26. Ali ABBAS 76-)
Unused substitutes: 1. Ben KENNEDY (gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
North Queensland Fury: 20. Justin PASFIELD (gk), 2. Robbie MIDDLEBY, 3. Chris TADROSSE, 7. Jason SPAGNUOLO (27. Terry COOKE 73-), 9. Robbie FOWLER (c), 10. Jeremy BROCKIE, 13. Beau BUSCH, 14. Chris GROSSMAN, 24. Dyron DAAL (19. Daniel MCBREEN 77-), 25. Grant SMITH (16. Paul KOHLER 74-), 26. Matthew SMITH
Unused substitutes: 1. Paul HENDERSON (gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Newcastle Jets: 3 (Own Goal (Tadrosse) 25-, Song 38-, Petrovski 83-)
North Queensland Fury: 2 (Daal 44-/61-)
Referee: Gerard Parsons
Crowd: 7,026
