The Jets have defeated Melbourne Victory 3-1 in front of a 17,245 crowd at Ausgrid Stadium on Saturday night.
The Newcastle Jets have come from behind to defeat the Melbourne Victory side 3-1 in front of 17,245 vocal Novocastrians at Ausgrid Stadium on Saturday night.
It was Newcastle-s biggest crowd of the season and moves them above Melbourne Victory on the ladder to sit in third position.
Despite the Jet-s dominance early on it was Melbourne Victory who took the lead on 19 minutes with a delightful goal from Carlos Hernandez breaking the deadlock and there was little that Matthew Nash could do as Herndandez curled his effort into the top corner from 20 yards out.
It didn-t take the home side long to respond as they were awarded a penalty on 26 minutes after Marco Rojas dragged down Ryan Griffiths in the box.
Griffiths stepped up to send former Jets keeper Ante Covic the wrong way and place his finish into the bottom corner to level the scores at 1-1.
Newcastle continued to press forward and threaten Melbourne-s goal but were unable to make the breakthrough they needed going into the half time break and the scores level.
It took the Jets just one minute after the restart to take the lead after Labinot Haliti headed home a Jeremy Brockie cross at the back post.
Harry Kewell sent a shot powerful shot past the post on 66 minutes, as Melbourne found it difficult to break down the Jets defense.
Any chance of a Melbourne Victory comeback was washed away on the 88 minute mark when Griffiths got his second goal of the match, finishing into an empty net after Ruben Zadkovich-s initial shot was blocked by Ante Covic right into his path.
Brockie put in another standout performance upfront for the Jets while Griffiths bagged two goals.
Tonight’s match also marked the much anticipated return of Michael Bridges to the field, coming on to replace Brockie in the 84th minute.
Coach Gary van Egmond said it wasn-t his sides best performance but certainly some positives to take out of it.
“It wasn’t our most fantastic match but our effectiveness in the front third was very impressive, something we have lacked in previous weeks,” he said following the game.
Newcastle Jets are away to the Central Coast Mariners next week in what is shaping up as another top F3 Derby at Bluetongue Stadium.
Game Details:
Newcastle Jets 3 (R. Griffiths 26-, 88-, L. Haliti 46-)
Melbourne Victory 1 (C. Hernandez 19-)
Saturday 3rd December 7:45pm
Ausgrid Stadium
Crowd attendance 17,245
Newcastle Jets line up: 4. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 5. Tiago CALVANO, 7. Kasey WEHRMAN (6. Ben KANTAROVSKI 75-), 8. Jeremy BROCKIE (9. Michael BRIDGES 84-), 10. Ruben ZADKOVICH, 11.Tarek ELRICH, 12. Jobe WHEELHOUSE (c), 13. Sung-Hwan BYUN, 14 Labinot HALITI (22. Ali ABBAS 71-), 19.Matthew NASH (GK), 23. Ryan GRIFFITHS.
Substitute not used:30. Jack DUNCAN (GK).
Melbourne Victory line up: 3. FABIO, 4. Petar FRANJIC, 6. Leigh BROXHAM, 10. Archie THOMPSON, 11. Marco ROJAS (19. Isaka CERNAK 66-), 13. Diogo FERREIRA (8.Grant BREBNER 45-), 14. Billy CELEVSKI, 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ, 21. Ante COVIC (GK), 22. Harry KEWELL (18. Danny ALLSOPP 74-), 23. Adrian LEIJER (c).
Substitute not used:20. Lawrence THOMAS (GK).
