Newcastle Jets have gone down 4-0 to Melbourne Victory in our Round 13 clash at AAMI Park on Sunday evening.
In our first fixture of the new year, the Jets travelled to Melbourne to take on the Victory for the first time this season and after a tight opening, the home side took the lead in the 10th minute when Robbie Kruse found space in behind and snuck his shot past Glen Moss to open the scoring.
Ernie Merrick named an unchanged lineup for the clash and Jason Hoffman went close to immediately levelling the scores when he put his free header wide from a Dimi Petratos corner just moments after Victory took the lead.
The home side continued to put the Jets under pressure but our backline held firm and Steve Ugarkovic almost equalised moments before halftime when he got on the end of a cross from Hoffman however, the midfielder’s effort was wayward as the Jets trailed 1-0 at the break.
Johnny Koutroumbis came on for Bobby Burns at the interval, and the substitute’s probing run in the 52nd minute created space for Petratos who let fly from the edge of the area, but Lawrence Thomas was equal to it and produced a low diving save.
With the Jets working hard to bring the scores level, Victory showed their ruthless edge in front of goal to score twice in three minutes and all but end the contest just after the hour mark.
When Moss could only parry Kruse’s effort from the edge of the box in the 61st minute, the ball fell perfectly for Migjen Basha who doubled the home side’s lead and just moments later when the ball fell to the feet of Andrew Nabbout in the 64th minute, the former Jets favourite lashed home Victory’s third to seal the points for the hosts.
A disappointing evening was summed up in the 86th minute when substitute Koutroumbis was injured after being fouled by Elvis Kamsoba, and with the Jets temporarily down to ten men, the Victory fully capitalised when Matt Millar, unfortunately, turned the ball past Moss to make it 4-0 and round out the scoring.
The Jets now return home to McDonald Jones Stadium to take on Sydney FC in Round 14 on Friday 10 January.
