Friday night’s clash in Adelaide earned the Jets their first Hyundai A-League point of the 2018/19 season.
It was an encouraging performance for the Newcastle faithful, with the Jets looking red hot in the final third and resilient in defence.
REPORT: How it went down in Adelaide
Here are three things we learnt from the stalemate in Adelaide.
Ronnie’s got goals
Ernie Merrick has spoken about the need for the tricky Ronnie Vargas to add goals to his game in the 2018/19 season and show the league what he’s capable of.
We saw flashes of Ronnie’s immeasurable talent in the first half – a delightful jink to escape the attention of two defenders early on, along with wonderful passing.
The Venezuelan rose to the boss’ challenge in the second half, ghosting superbly between two defenders to finish off an inch-perfect ball whipped in by Jason Hoffman.
It’s his first goal in Newcastle Jets colours, and Novocastria couldn’t be happier for him. It also extends the Club’s record of scoring in consecutive away matches to 15.
Jair is on the up
Newcastle’s newest Brazillian import managed 55 minutes last weekend in Wellington, but that was an effort dwarfed by his 76 minutes on Friday.
Jair continues to impress as his fitness improves, and against Adelaide he was good. Playing all across the front third – involved and threatening.
The highlight of Jair’s night was that absolutely sublime ball across to Jason Hoffman in the 68th minute, which the striker couldn’t steer past Paul Izzo.
Expect to see more minutes from the fleet-footed Brazilian over the next few weeks, with reports from Ernie Merrick suggesting that Jair doing plenty of extras to counteract a short preseason.
Mossy’s at his best
With a penalty save under his belt from Round 1, Glen Moss came into Friday night’s match as one of the quiet achievers from the opening weekend.
The Kiwi custodian was again at his shot-stopping best in Adelaide, denying the likes of Craig Goodwin on the few occasions the Reds broke through the Newcastle line.
It’s the kind of form which will hold the former Victory ‘keeper in good stead ahead of next Saturday’s Grand Final rematch with his former club.
