The Newcastle Jets have been defeated 2-0 in their season opener in front of 14,868 fans at Hunter Stadium on Sunday.
The Newcastle Jets have been defeated 2-0 in their season opener in front of 14,868 fans at Hunter Stadium on Sunday.
A crowd of 14,868 turned up to watch former England international, Emile Heskey-s debut for the Jets, but those in attendance were left shell-shocked when Dario Vidosic put Adelaide ahead inside the first two minutes.
Jeronimo Neumann was given too much time and space on the right flank and was able to measure a pin-point cross that picked out Vidosic who finished neatly past Mark Birighitti.
After the early setback, the Jets began to find their rhythm and dominate possession and they were very nearly back on level terms in the 14th minute.
Jobe Wheelhouse-s corner found Scott Neville who hooked the ball back towards goals. Mitchell tried to flick the ball on, but saw his shot cleared off the line by the Adelaide defence.
As the first-half wore on, the Jets continued to dominate the play, having nearly 60% of possession and winning five corners in the first 45 minutes. However, the final product was lacking and the Jets went into the break trailing 1-0.
The Jets picked up where they left off in the second half, with Heskey very nearly getting on the end of a Scott Neville cross, before Ruben Zadkovich tried an effort from 30 metres out that he dragged to the left of goal.
However, Newcastle found themselves fighting even more of an uphill battle when Birighitti was sent off in the 58th minute.
Referee Shaun Evans deemed Birighitti to have prevented a goal-scoring by handling Vidosic-s goal-bound effort outside of the penalty area.
Despite vocal protests from the Jets players and supporters, Birighitti was given his marching orders and Newcastle were reduced to 10 men.
Heskey made way for James Virgili in the 70th minute and the substitute almost had an instant impact with as he cut in from the left and forced Galekovic to make a low save at his near post.
However, it wasn-t long before Adelaide capitalised on the extra-man advantage. The Jets were caught short at the back and Vidosic was able to play a square ball across the face of goal for Iain Ramsay to easily tap in and double Adelaide-s advantage in the 75th minute.
Despite the task at hand, the Jets fought resiliently and continued to ask questions of the Adelaide defence right up until the final whistle. Unfortunately they were unable to find a way through and the Reds took home the three points.
Newcastle Jets 0
Adelaide United 2 (Vidosic 2′, Ramsay 74′)
Crowd 14,868 at Hunter Stadium.
Newcastle Jets starting line-up: 20.Mark Birighitti (gk), 2.Scott Neville, 4.Josh Mitchell, 5.Dominik Ritter, 6.Ben Kantarovski, 8.Ruben Zadkovich, 9.Emile Heskey (17.James Virgili 70-), 15.Craig Goodwin, 16.Jobe Wheelhouse (19.Michael Bridges 78-), 22.Adam Taggart (1.Ben Kennedy (gk) 59-), 23.Ryan Griffiths
Substitutes not used: 11.Connor Chapman
Yellow Cards: Ritter 79-
Red Cards: Birighitti 57-
Adelaide United starting line-up: 1.Eugene Galekovic (gk) (c), 2.Osama Malik (19.Jake Barker-Daish 75-), 3.Nigel Boogaard, 6.Cassio, 10.Dario Vidosic, 11.Bruce Djite (8.Marcelo Carrusca 78-), 12.Antony Golec, 14.Cameron Watson, 16.Daniel Bowles, 17.Iain Ramsay, 21.Jeronimo Neumann (22.Fabio Ferreira 70-)
Substitutes not used: 30.John HALL (gk)
Yellow Cards: Boogaard 52-, Bowles 68-
Red Cards: Nil
