With the defeat against Wellington consigned to history, the Jets will travel south for Friday night’s clash with Adelaide United.
Thanks to the data-digging expertise of resident statistician, Dave Keating, we’ve crunched the numbers and figured out the key facts for you to know ahead of this week’s journey to the City of Churches.
Y-LEAGUE: 2018/19 fixtures released
Here is this week’s Fixture Facts.
Matches
There have been a total of 40 matches between the Jets and Adelaide, and the Reds just shade it in terms of wins: they’ve picked up 16 victories compared to our 13, with 11 draws.
22 of those matches have been played in Adelaide, and United’s ratio improves slightly on home turf – they’ve won 50% of the clashes at Cooper’s Stadium.
The Jets’ biggest ever win over Adelaide came way back in the league’s debut season – a 4-2 win in Round 8 of the 2005/06 season, thanks to a Nick Carle double.
Newcastle have played a number of Friday night games against Adelaide in Adelaide: a total of 13, in fact. It’s been nine years since the Jets won one though – a 2-0 win on Friday 4 December, 2009.
The last time the Jets played Adelaide in Adelaide was a Friday night, but the boys will be gunning for a different result this time around. In Round 24 last season, the Reds won 5-2.
Goals
The stats are tight when it comes to goals scored between these two sides – the Jets can claim 42 of those, and Adelaide 54.
Thanks to a series of positive results on home soil, that gap widens when it comes to matches played in Adelaide: the Jets have 21 goals to Adelaide’s 38.
The most goals any Jets player has scored in this fixture is three, and there are a whopping six players who can boast that record: Mark Bridge, Nick Carle, Joel Griffiths, Ben Kantarovski, Andrew Nabbout, and Matt Thompson.
For Adelaide, former Argentinian attacker Marcelo Carrusca leads the way with six goals against the Jets.
Talking points
The potential return of Ben Kantarovski from injury this Friday night couldn’t come at a better time for the Jets: the midfielder has scored three of the Jets’ last four goals in Adelaide.
One area where we have strived on the road in recent times is goals though, and Dimi Petratos’ 95th minute strike last weekend ensured we extended our scoring record on the road to 14 consecutive games.
The recent stats would also suggest that a pair of goals could do it for the Jets – in each of the Club’s last two fixtures against Adelaide, Newcastle have scored two goals.
One thing looks certain too: a good crowd. Games between these two clubs in Adelaide have averaged a crowd of just under 9,700 – and last week, just over 10,000 turned out to watch the Reds draw with Sydney.
The Jets get Round 2 of the Hyundai A-League 2018/19 season started on the road to Adelaide United on Friday, 26 October at Coopers Stadium. Kick-off is at 7:50pm (ADST), with the match broadcast live on Fox Sports and the MyFootball App.
