A dominant second-half performance has seen the Newcastle Jets run out convincing 4-0 winners on Jets Members Day!
A tight contest saw the sides locked 0-0 at the break, but Olivier Boumal’s second half double saw the Jets take control of the game, before goals to Beqa Mikeltadze and Eli Babalj made it a memorable night for our fans as we celebrated Jets Member Day in style!
With nothing to separate the sides in the first half despite the home side dominating territory, it only took six minutes in the second stanza for the Jets to hit the front, courtesy of our Cameroonian star.
After Daniel Penha had his initial shot saved, Boumal found himself in the right place at the right time to fire home the rebound and put the Jets into the lead after 51 minutes.
As the visitors tried to find a way back into the match, two goals in four minutes ended their hopes as first Boumal found the bottom corner from 20 yards to double the lead in the 63rd minute, before Beqa Mikeltadze produced a neat left-footed finish to make it 3-0 after 67 minutes.
There was still time for another goal as Dylan Murnane’s perfect cross found the head of Babalj, who powered his header home to score his first goal for the club and round out the scoring in the 83rd minute.
See the full play-by-play recap of the match below:
90′ Yuel crosses it in with the keeper out of the box, but it ends to nothing.
84′ GOOOOOAL! NEW 4-0 WEL Babalj grabs his first ‘official’ score of the season!
77′ Penha attacks the Phoenix defence and launches one from distance, but the shot travels over the bar.
72′ Stoppage in play at the moment as Payne receives some medical attention.
67′ ANOTHER GOALLLLLL! NEW 3-0 WEL Beqa Mikeltadze finds the net with a wicked, curling shot!
64′ GOOOOOAL! NEW 2-0 WEL Boumal gets another! This time with a cracking shot in the bottom corner!
61′ Mikeltadze is brought down from behind in the penalty box, but instead the free kick goes the other way.
56′ We receive a half chance from a corner, but the header is wide.
54′ Wellington go close to scoring as we fail to clear the ball from the box. But the offside flag was up anyway.
52′ GOOOOOOOAAAAL! NEW 1-0 WEL Boumal jumps on the rebound of a Penha shot and tucks it home for the opener!
49′ Penha is slipped in behind the defence and tries a shot facing away from goal. Unsurprisingly given his position, the shot is wide.
48′ Phoenix break through our defensive line and have a good chance on goal, but Weier comes up big with the save.
46′ The second half is underway here at home!
40′ Phoenix come close from a corner, trying to head the ball back in from the back post, but it luckily ends up to no avail.
35′ A half chance for Wellington as they find a way in behind, but the shot is from a difficult angle and doesn’t trouble Weier.
32′ Good intervention by Jurman to stop a Phoenix raid.
29′ Half shout of a penalty for Mikeltadze, but referee waves it away.
24′ Boumal latches himself onto a ball into the box. It’s a volley, but it’s skied over the bar.
21′ Another half-chance for a goal as a cross fires across the face of goal just begging for someone to tap it in, but it finds no boot and travels wayward.
20′ CHANCE! Boumal drives into a dangerous area just outside the box, and unleashes a shot! But it goes just high of the goal.
19′ Sandoval takes a strike from distance but hits the feet of our defenders.
16′ Weier pulls off a terrific reflex save after a Wellington cross is deflected towards goal. Corner kick comes in, but is dispatched to safety.
14′ A whipping cross by Boumal finds the head of a flying Siatravanis, but his header goes disappointingly wide.
12′ Siatravanis puts in a great looking cross and it almost finds Mikeltadze at the back post! A good piece of defensive work by Phoenix sees us win a corner instead. Nothing comes of the corner.
12′ Phoenix look dangerous near our by-line, but Hoffman comes in with a strong tackle and wins the goal kick instead.
9′ We manage to keep the ball and Thurgate is played through on the side of the edge of the box. He crosses a low ball over but it’s cleared by the Phoenix.
8′ A dangerous pass slices the Phoenix defence to find Mikeltadze in the box, but his touch lets up down.
4′ Laws receives the first yellow card of the game for a challenge on Siatravanis
3′ Boumal charges at the defence and looks like he’ll ask a few questions, but unfortunately the play ends to nought following a sloppy pass.
KICK-OFF: We have begun at McDonald Jones Stadium!
FRIDAY 7:30PM: Almost time for kick-off!
FRIDAY 7:15PM: Some of our members are piling in for Jets Members Day!
FRIDAY 6:50PM: Here is Wellington’s line up for this evening: 40. Paulsen (GK), 16. Fenton, 4. Wootton, 6. Payne (c), 5. McGarry, 13. Pennington, 21. Laws, 7. Sandoval, 19. Sutton, 11. Sotirio, 88. Hooper. Subs: 3. Bozinovski, 17. Elliot, 31. Mogg, 32. Ott, 33. Suman, 34. Manuel, 30. Gray (GK)
FRIDAY 6:45PM: Our Starting XI is locked in
FRIDAY 6:00PM: A lovely night for football!
FRIDAY 12:00PM: A reminder that tonight will be honouring the 51 deceased victims of the Christchurch mosque terror attacks in March 2019. Read more details about the initiative here.
FRIDAY 9:30AM: Hear from our recently-debuted goalkeeper Michael Weier about his first two outings
FRIDAY 9:30AM: MATCH PREVIEW | All the key stats and facts about our match with the Phoenix
FRIDAY 9:30AM: Watch the Boss as he discusses our match with Wellington
FRIDAY 9:00AM: GOOD MORNING! IT’S GAMEDAY!!! Secure your tickets for tonight’s important game
