The Newcastle Jets have been beaten 1-0 by Japanese heavyweights Nagoya Grampus in their AFC Champions League Matchday 4 clash at Newcastle Stadium this evening.
The Newcastle Jets have been beaten 1-0 by Japanese heavyweights Nagoya Grampus in their AFC Champions League Matchday 4 clash at Newcastle Stadium this evening.
Despite the Jets controlling large portions of the game, Nagoya snared the three vital Group E points when diminutive midfielder Yoshizumi Ogawa netted in the 57th minute.
Making no mistake from 12-yards, Ogawa finished clinically to Ben Kennedy-s left to ensure his side remained at the top of the tight group.
Spurred on by their home fans Newcastle started the brighter of the two outfits.
With just five minutes gone an Adam Griffiths attacking foray resulted in the ball loitering around the edge of the six-yard box. Youngster Brodie Mooy tried valiantly to get his shot away, however the Grampus defence rallied to smother the teenagers strike.
Three minutes later Jets debutant Angelo Costanzo could have marked his first competitive Newcastle outing with a goal. Italian Fabio Vignaroli sent a perfectly weighted free kick in from the left hand flank, however Costanzo-s free header failed to trouble Grampus custodian Seigo Narazaki.
Hitting predominately on the counter, Nagoya created their first real opening on 18 minutes when Brazilian striker Davi skipped down the right hand side before stabbing the ball goal wards. Alert to the danger, Ben Kennedy reacted sharply to the front mans strike, parrying away before skipper Matt Thompson completed the clearance.
Both teams suffered injury blows on the half hour mark with the Jets- Vignaroli and Nagoya-s Magnum being forced to make way for Kaz Patafta and Keita Sugimoto respectively.
It was Nagoya who returned from the sheds looking the sharper of the two sides, and they made their early second half dominance count when Ogawa struck just before the hour. With the Jets- defence slow to react to a ball in from the right side, Ogawa showed his class to put the visitors ahead.
Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond reacted immediately, swapping Jason Hoffman for Sasho Petrovski and Donny de Groot for Sean Rooney.
After being upended in the box on 77 minutes, Petrovski had the perfect opportunity to restore parity however his resultant penalty was saved by the experienced Narazaki.
Despite numerous attacking advances late on, the Jets couldn-t manage an equaliser leaving them needing a win in their next ACL match at home to Beijing Guoan on Matchday 5.
Coach Gary van Egmond was philosophical about the result at the end of the match.
“I thought it was an entertaining match but unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the ledger. First half I thought Nagoya were the better of the teams in regards to dictating the game,” he explained.
“Second half we wanted to push on in search of winning the game but when your luck-s not in your luck-s not in.”
The coach also gave his views on the goal which saw his side go down this evening.
“We still had plenty of numbers there and we still didn-t clear it, and we earn ourselves a penalty and we don-t score. It-s about making sure you take your chances and if you do that you certainly stay competitive within the match,” he concluded.
Match Details:
Newcastle Jets: 20. Ben KENNEDY, 2. Tarek ELRICH, 4. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 6. Ben KANTAROVSKI, 8. Matt THOMPSON, 10. Donny DE GROOT (23. Sean ROONEY 59-), 14. Angelo COSTANZO, 16. Jason HOFFMAN (9. Sasho PETROVSKI 59-), 17. Fabio VIGNAROLI (24. Kaz PATAFTA 32-), 25. Adam GRIFFITHS, 28. Brodie MOOY
Unused substitutes: 30. Ben MCNAMARA (gk), 18. Peter HAYNES, 22. Mitchell JOHNSON, 26. Nik TSATTALIOS
Yellow cards: Tarek Elrich 26-, Jason Hoffman 43-
Red cards: Nil
Nagoya Grampus: 1. Seigo NARAZAKI (gk), 2. Akira TAKEUCHI (32. Hayuma TANAKA 71-), 3. Milos BAJALICA, 4. YOSHIDA, 5. Takahiro MASUKAWA, 6. Shohei ABE, 7. Naoshi NAKAMURA (13. Kei YAMAGUCHI 76-), 8. MAGNUM (19. Keita SUGIMOTO 32-), 9. DAVI, 10. Yoshizumi OGAWA, 14. Keiji YOSHIMURA
Unused substitutes: 21. Koji NISHIMURA (gk), 18. Tomohiro TSUDA, 24. Shinta FUKUSHIMA, 25. Oribe NIIKAWA
Yellow cards: Davi 43-, Keiji Yoshimura 68-
Red cards: Nil
Newcastle Jets: 0
Nagoya Grampus: 1 (Ogawa 57-)
Referee: Ali Hamad Madhad Saif Albadwawi
Crowd: 8,492
