The Newcastle Jets have been defeated 2-1 by Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Melbourne Victory has held on to defeat the Newcastle Jets 2-1 at AAMI Park tonight in Round 14 of the Hyundai A-League.
Unfortunately for the Jets, both goals were conceded by own goals and they were reduced to ten men early in the second half when Tarek Elrich was sent off.
There was a frantic pace set early on between these sides and chances went either way during the opening minutes with Ryan Griffiths and Carlos Hernandez both coming close for their respective sides.
It took Melbourne Victory just six minutes to open the scoring at home, when Harry Kewell provided a sensational ball in behind the Newcastle defence that Sung-Hwan Byun could only guide into his own net after applying heavy pressure on the expected target Danny Allsopp.
The Newcastle Jets were causing a threat of their own with former Jets keeper Ante Covic forced to make consecutive saves after the 20 minute mark, first tipping away Griffiths- header for a corner and then preventing Mario Jesic just moments later.
Archie Thompson almost doubled his sides lead but saw his bending shot bounce back off the left upright after Kewell was again instrumental in the build up.
The tempo slowed down for the remainder of the half in what was still an open encounter, Melbourne Victory however did enough to maintain their one goal lead going into the half time break.
Ben Kennedy provided a reflex save from a Hernandez set piece early in the second half to keep his side in the contest.
However the task was made tougher for the Jets when Elrich was shown a red card for his challenge on Allsopp less than ten minutes after the restart, the Jets having to play a man down for the remainder of the match.
Kennedy again saved the Jets to deny Archie Thompson-s diving header, Thompson again came close just minutes later but couldn-t get anything on the cross at the back post.
It was a horrible turn of events again for Sung-Hwan Byun when he scored his second own goal of the match, turning in another Melbourne cross into his own net.
Captain Griffiths gave the squad and fans a glimmer of hope when he scored with five minutes remaining, but the home side held on for a narrow win in front of their home crowd.
Coach Gary van Egmond felt despite the loss, the team played well and are starting to gel together.
“I viewed the teams performance tonight as very good, unfortunately we weren’t ruthless enough in the front third and a couple of times we got caught there and defensively we had to aim up a little better,” van Egmond said.
“Overall, even with the 10 men, we controlled the mainstay of the match.
“We’ve just got to knuckle down and keep working on the training field, and if we keep putting in performances like tonight I think the away win will come sooner rather than later.”
Goalkeeper Kennedy felt there were some positives to take out of the game and is looking forward to the Jets clash against league leaders Central Coast Mariners in Round 15.
“Especially when we were a man down, it was always going to be tough but I thought we created some good chances,” Kennedy said.
“The boys worked hard, and we were unlucky not to get a point out of it tonight.
“It’s always tough coming here, and I think we played pretty well. We had some good chances and there are some positives to take out of it.
“We have the F3 derby next; we’ll prepare for it during the week and look forward to it.”
Game Details:
Melbourne Victory FC 2 (Byun OG 6-, 75-)
Newcastle Jets FC 1 (R.Griffiths 85-)
AAMI Park
Crowd attendance 14, 987
Newcastle Jets line up: 1. Ben KENNEDY (GK), 2. Taylor REGAN, 5. Tiago CALVANO, 6. Ben KANTAROVSKI, 8. Jeremy BROCKIE (22. Ali ABBAS.), 11.Tarek ELRICH, 13. Sung-Hwan BYUN, 14 Labinot HALITI (9. Michael BRIDGES 56-), 18. Marko JESIC (3. Mario SIMIC 56-), 23. Ryan GRIFFITHS (c), Jacob PEPPER.
Substitutes not used:19. Matthew NASH (GK).
Melbourne Victory line up: 2. Matthew FOSCHINI, 3. FABIO, 4. Petar FRANJIC, 6. Leigh BROXHAM, 8. Grant BREBNER , 10. Archie THOMPSON (c), 12. Rodrigo VARGAS, 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ, 18. Danny ALLSOPP, 21. Ante COVIC (GK), 22. Harry KEWELL (13. Diogo FERREIRA 85-).
Substitutes not used: 11. Marco ROJAS, 19. Isaka CERNAK, 20. Lawrence THOMAS (GK).
