The Newcastle Jets Youth Team has been defeated 3-0 by the Queensland Roar Youth Team at EnergyAustralia Stadium this afternoon.
The Newcastle Jets Youth Team has been defeated 3-0 by the Queensland Roar Youth Team at EnergyAustralia Stadium this afternoon.
With regular coach Craig Deans in Canberra this weekend, recently appointed high performance manager Ian Crook took the reins of the depleted Jets Youth, who themselves had to call in Adelaide-based youngster Ivan Pavlak and local product James Virgilli to make add to their squad.
Whilst the Jets began brightly, it was Queensland who took the lead in the 26th minute. Joshua McVey made a great far post run, scoring a diving header past Jordan Griffiths to give the visitors the lead.
Simon Mooney had the Jets best chance of the opening 45, his shot on the turn just before half time going centimeters wide.
Stand-in coach Crook rallied his troops at half time, with Newcastle returning after the break showing much more attacking impetus.
Just a minute into the second half, fullback Joel Witherdin hit a rasping 35-yard drive just over Griffin McMaster-s crossbar.
With the Jets beginning to string some nice moves together, in the 58th minute Jesse Pinto had what seemed to be reasonable penalty claims waved away by referee Kris Griffiths-Jones.
Possibly the turning point of the match, moments later Queensland found themselves two up, Mitchell Bevan scoring with an angled finish.
Soon after, Jordan Farina crossed for fringe first team player Chris Grossman to score the final goal of the game.
To their credit, the Jets Youth worked hard and created a few chances in the latter stages of the match, however were unable to find a response against their impressive Queensland counterparts.
Crook was not disheartened by the performance and believes the team can take a great deal from the loss.
“The boys have had a tough week, they-ve trained with the senior team throughout the week and that-s meant that they-ve learned a lot along the way, but it also takes it out of them.”
“We played very nicely in patches throughout the game but we never really sustained that pressure for extended periods. It was 15 minutes of nice football here, 15 minutes there, but if we were to get any result today we needed to keep that going.”
“Full credit to the Queensland boys, they deserved their win today, but for our boys it-s been a week of learning,” he said.
Match Details:
Newcastle Jets Youth Team: Jordan GRIFFITHS (gk), Jon GRIFFITHS, Matthew HARPER (Jacob PEPPER), Adrian KARAKOLEVSKI, Simon MOONEY, Brodie MOOY, Jesse PINTO, Taylor REGAN, George STROGYLOS, James VIRGILI, Joel WITHERDIN (Ivan PAVLAK 54-)
Unused substitutes: Nil
Yellow cards: Joel Witherdin 41-
Red cards: Nil
Queensland Roar Youth Team: Griffin MCMASTER (Matthew ACTON 60-), Michael ANGUS, Mitchell BEVAN (Koh SATAKE 60-), Daniel BOWLES, Luke BRATTEN, Chris GROSSMAN, Bradley MCDONALD, Joshua MCVEY, Michael RYAN, Tyler THURTELL (William TUMUSIIME 56-), Benjamin GRIFFIN
Unused substitutes: Nil
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
