Goals to Nicki Flannery and Tara Andrews have helped the Newcastle Jets secure their first win of the season, and their first ever win in Perth, with a 2-1 victory over the Glory on Saturday night.
Looking to break a hoodoo that has lasted since the inception of the W-League, Craig Deans showed faith in the side that narrowly lost to Canberra last weekend and named another unchanged line-up.
Both sides were looking for their first win of the campaign and it was a cagey affair early on, but it was the Jets who would open the scoring in the 23rd minute when Nikki Flannery scored her first goal for her new club.
After being released into space down the left by Tara Andrews, Teigan Collister delivered a pinpoint cross which Flannery neatly turned into the bottom corner to open her account and put the Jets in front.
Flannery was in the thick of the action again shortly before halftime when her far post cross found the head of Jenna Kingsley, however she could not keep her header down in the 40th minute as the Jets headed into the sheds with a one goal advantage.
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Tara Andrews had scored in each of her past five outings against Perth, and despite a relatively quiet opening period, she soon made it six in a row as she doubled the Jets advantage just 29 seconds into the second half.
Excellent work by Gema Simon saw the Jets win back possession and after Simon continued her run, Andrews played a neat one-two with our skipper before cutting inside a defender and rifling the ball into the roof of the net to make it 2-0 to the visitors.
The home side handed a debut to new signing Celia Jimenez and the Spanish international brought Glory back into the game when she halved the deficit just before the hour mark with Perth’s first real attempt of the match.
As the home side pushed for an equaliser, it left spaces for the Jets to exploit and Flannery had an excellent opportunity to seal the three points in the 75th minute after being played through on goal by Kingsley, however her shot glanced the outside of the post and out.
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Just six minutes later, the Jets would have an even better opportunity to finish the hosts off when Simon’s cross struck the arm of a Perth defender in the box and the visitors were awarded a penalty.
Fresh off scoring two penalties last weekend, Andrews stepped up once again but her effort was brilliantly denied by Eliza Campbell in the Perth goal as she made a low diving save to keep her side in the contest.
Perth threw everything they had at the Jets as they attempted to salvage a point in the dying stages, but some resolute defending saw the away side hold on for a well-deserved victory as they registered their first ever victory on the west coast.
Our Westfield W-League side will now return home to face Sydney FC next Sunday 15 December.
