Newcastle Jets showed great resilience and fortitude to scrape through their first A-League win of the season with a 1-0 result against Wellington Phoenix, owing to goals from Valentino Yuel and Roy O’Donovan in Wollongong.
The former Western United man opened the scoring early on in the eighth minute, while his Irish frontline partner bagged his 50th goal in the league early on in the second period of play. A late penalty scored by Ulises Davila put the visitors on the ropes, but they held on the secure their first points of the season.
The game began on an evening that threatened to cause stormy conditions, with fears that lightning could potentially bring the game to a halt. But the weather held as Phoenix forward Tomer Hemed was clean through on goal after three minutes of play. The Israeli hitman tripped over himself and went down softly before holding the ball to instigate referee Alex King into making a decision. But the man in charge was not interested as he made the right decision to award the visitors a free-kick due to the handball.
The Nix continued their early dominance by carving out a strong attacking move after five minutes, but defender John Kotroumbis got just enough on the ball to ensure nothing came of it.
Eight minutes was all it took for the first goal of the game to be scored, as the Jets’ hitman O’Donovan did exceptionally well to turn, open up his body and send a low but long pass to play fellow striker Yuel through. Wellington defender Joshua Laws was rushing down to intercept the attack, but the striker took long and strong strides to stay ahead and let loose an excellent shot across goal that hit the far post and went into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
A few minutes later, Phoenix skipper Ulises Davila sent a ball into the box from a corner, which saw Luke DeVere leap well over his marker for a strong header that looked to be going in. But goalkeeper Jack Duncan dived to his right and made a sensational one-handed save to keep his side in the lead.
But it was not long before Davila threatened again, as he found himself with a bit of space just outside the D. The Mexican took one touch and let loose a thunderbolt that clearly had the ‘keeper beaten, but the post denied him and opposition captain Nigel Boogaard cleared the ball away.
A little after 20 minutes had passed, the Nix No. 9 David Ball went into the left side of the box, did a stepover before shuffling to his left to beat defender Jason Hoffman for a hard hit shot on goal. But the shot-stopper fisted the ball away to keep the hosts at bay.
Newcastle midfielder Angus Thurgate showed good sporting behaviour after 27 minutes following a mistimed challenge on Laws that earned him a booking. Whilst being officially cautioned by the man in charge, the 20-year-old went up to the victim and apologised for his actions.
With a third of the game having been completed, on-loan midfielder Ramy Najjarine started a good move for the Jets and sent the ball to Connor O’Toole down the flank. The left-back crossed it into the box but O’Donovan flicked it just over the bar.
Less than 10 minutes before half-time, the Nix left-back James McGarry made his way into the left side of the box and went for glory despite a tight angle and the ‘keeper to beat. The end result of that effort was an unchanged scoreline.
After 48 minutes of the game had passed, a corner for Wellington saw Ball flicked a header that had shot-stopper Duncan completely beaten. But the fantastic effort went without reward as the ball hit the post on that occasion.
Minutes later, a superb through ball from Newcastle midfielder Steven Ugarkovic released O’Donovan through on goal. The opposition goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic was badly positioned as he rushed towards the ball, only to be left stranded in no man’s land as the Irishman slotted it home with a superb first touch to score his 50th goal in the A-League.
A few minutes past the hour mark, Wellington man Ball did some good work down the left flank to send it to midfielder Tim Payne in the middle. But the Kiwi was unable to capitalise despite being unmarked, as his shot went wide of the target.
Less than 15 minutes were left when the ball pinballed in the home side’s box, when Newcastle defender Boogaard found himself with his back towards the goal as the ball approached him. The veteran centre-half surprisingly took a left-footed bicycle-kick, which produced an equally exceptional reaction save from shot-stopper Marinovic.
After 83 minutes of hard work on the pitch, Phoenix finally pulled one back to make it 2-1. Young midfielder Cameron Devlin was rushing into the right side of the box when defender Blake Archbold showed a lack of experience with a late challenge. The man in charge instantly pointed to the spot, with the skipper Davila stepping up to take the shot. The Mexican took his time and kept his composure to send Duncan the wrong way as he placed the ball into the right-bottom corner of the net.
Having reduced the deficit and smelling blood in the air, Wellington surged ahead with renewed spirit and enthusiasm. But the visitors somehow managed to hold on to the slender lead, to the point where manager Deans needed to make a tactical substitution in stoppage time to run down the clock.
But as the referee blew the final whistle, the Jets managed to pick up their first points – and their first win – of the season.
Newcastle Jets have an away day against Western Sydney Wanderers coming up next on Friday, while Wellington Phoenix will take on wooden spoon holders albeit the current table toppers Central Coast Mariners in Gosford on Sunday.
