Newcastle Jets landed plenty of jabs but not the knockout punch against Perth Glory at Hunter Stadium on Sunday evening.
THE SUMMARY:
Newcastle Jets 0, Perth Glory 2
Newcastle Jets crafted enough chances to win two games of football against Perth Glory at Hunter Stadium on Sunday, but were ultimately made to pay for not taking their opportunities against Kenny Lowe’s men from the west.
Andy Keogh and Nebojsa Marinkovic took their chances in the second stanza – the latter in sublime fashion – to guarantee that the purple-whites remain in the thick of the Hyundai A-League Premiership race with three rounds to play.
For Phil Stubbins’ Newcastle it was a night of frustration as time and again his side managed to create solid goalscoring possibilities, only to be denied by desperate Glory defending or spurn the chances themselves.
Nevertheless, the Jets did toil committedly against Perth at a sodden Hunter Stadium – the bleak conditions brought about by a storm in the lead-up to kick-off.
Enver Alivodić and Andrew Hoole were two of the Jets’ best attacking threats on the night, and both will feel that they ought to have ended the contest with at minimum a goal to their credit.
Mitch Cooper, Taylor Regan and Edson Montaño will feel a similar way. Cooper saw a header flash past Danny Vukovic’s post, Regan slammed a corner against the crossbar, while Montaño had a shot from a great position blocked by former Socceroo Michael Thwaite.
Keogh scored in the 50th minute when he headed Jamie Maclaren’s cross beyond Ben Kennedy after the Jets custodian had palmed away an initial strike from Sidnei Sciola.
Marinkovic rounded out the scoring six minutes from full-time when he burst into the box before hammering a crisp strike on the angle into the goal. It was another for the highlights reel for the Serbian midfielder, who has gained a reputation this campaign for his ability to produce goals easy on the eye.
THE SCOREBOARD:
Newcastle Jets 0
Perth Glory 2 (Keogh 50’, Marinkovic 84’)
Venue: Hunter Stadium, Newcastle
Referee: Peter Green
Attendance: 4,162
eVent Cinemas Glendale Performance of the Week: Enver Alivodić
THE REACTION:
Phil Stubbins on #NEWvPER: “Certainly in the first half we created a lot of chances. We went with a proactive system, a formation of three-four-three, and it’s difficult for the opposition to actually nullify that. But we certainly created the opportunities and chances to score, it just wasn’t obviously meant to be for us to score the goals and we got done on a sucker-punch after a glaring opportunity. We’ll keep going.”
Phil Stubbins on recent matches: “We’ve been in a helluva lot of games without really getting any return for it but we look forward to having the opportunity to gather ourselves, get on the front foot and rebuild in such a way that we’re representing Newcastle and the Hunter region in a better fashion.”
THE TEAMS:
Newcastle Jets: 3. Taylor REGAN (C), 5. Benjamin KANTAROVSKI, 7. Enver ALIVODIC, 8. Zenon CARAVELLA (16. Jacob PEPPER 78’), 11. Andrew HOOLE, 13. Edson MONTAÑO (27. Radovan PAVICEVIC 73’), 19. Mitch COOPER (31. Max BURGESS 80’), 20. Ben KENNEDY (Gk), 21. Daniel MULLEN, 22. LEE Ki-je, 26. Nicholas COWBURN
Substitutes not used: 18. Allan WELSH, 30. John SOLARI (Gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Perth Glory: 1. Danny VUKOVIC (Gk), 5. Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 6. Dino DJULBIC, 9. Andy KEOGH, 11. Richard GARCIA (10. Nebojsa MARINKOVIC 77’), 15. Jamie MACLAREN (13. Diogo FERREIRA 82’), 16. Sidnei SCIOLA (14. Chris HAROLD 77’), 19. Joshua RISDON, 21. Scott JAMIESON, 23. Michael THWAITE (C), 27. Dragan PALJIC
Substitutes not used: 18. Jack DUNCAN (Gk), 25. Mitchell OXBORROW
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
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