Macarthur FC managed to hold on through periods of intense pressure to carve out a 2-1 result against Newcastle Jets at the Newcastle International Sports Centre. Loic Puyo produced an acrobatically crafted goal early on and Matt Derbyshire doubled the lead with his head. Valentino Yuel pulled one back for the home side, but it was not enough as Craig Deans’ men fell prey a yet another loss.
The Bulls began brightly with a goal in the eighth minute, as Ivan Franjic sent in a ball from just outside the right corner of the box. The cross took a deflection off defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley and was in an awkward spot for Puyo. But the Frenchman showed exceptional presence of mind to change his body positioning and score with a beautifully taken overhead kick to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
After 10 minutes, defender James Meredith – who was on the left – beautifully picked out Markel Susaeta at the far post. But Jets’ defender Connor O’Toole was on hand to block the shot.
At the other end, Roy O’Donovan received a through ball on the counterattack as the hosts broke away. But the Bulls’ back line recovered very well to get behind the Irishman again. The attacker managed to put through Angus Thurgate, but the finish went marginally wide of the target.
Less than 20 minutes had passed when Ramy Najjarine stole the ball down the right and handed it to O’Donovan, whose first touch was lacking in quality. As the home side showcased good passing inside the box, the Irish hitman’s first touch let him down again and the ball fell to defender Jason Hoffman who finished well to put it past goalkeeper Adam Federici. But following a consultation with VAR, the goal was ruled out as the former Melbourne City man was adjudged to have been offside. This proved to be a bit of poetic justice as the referee had missed a blatant foul on Lachlan Rose on the left flank just moments earlier.
With 23 minutes gone, Puyo was involved in another goal that saw Macarthur double their lead. The Frenchman took a corner that saw striker Derbyshire get the better of his marker to fire a header that beat goalkeeper Jack Duncan at the near post to make the scoreline 2-0. The Englishman celebrated his first A-League goal with a salute to the bench. This goal showed the Jets’ lack of defensive awareness from set-plays as it was similar to the goal they conceded in their recent game against Western Sydney Wanderers, with Ziggy Gordon getting on the scoresheet on that occasion.
With a third of the game gone and going two goals down, Newcastle players showed great spirit to keep their heads up and try to get back into the game. Hoffman sent in a cross from the right that found O’Donovan. But the ageing hitman’s strong header was way off target. A minute later, the Irishman found himself in space. Yet again his finish was found lacking as his shot rolled harmlessly wide of the target.
Deans’ men continued to push hard to claw their way into the game, and pulled one back to make it 2-1 after 42 minutes. Najjarine began the move beautifully as he put O’Donovan through on the right. The Irishman took a shot that was blocked by Franjic. The rebounded block fell back at his feet as the hitman tried his luck again. This time Federici got a hand on it, but the ball fell to Yuel who was about a foot away from the goalline. The attacker was remarkably onside and used his knee to put the ball in the back of the net to score his first ever A-League goal.
The end-to-end nature of the game continued as half-time approached, as Rose took a shot in added time that was deflected through to Derbyshire. The former Nottingham Forest hitman had a go that had shot-stopper Duncan beaten. But the woodwork was the ‘keeper’s best friend on that occasion, as it denied the Bulls from doubling their lead.
Forty eight minutes had passed when Derbyshire was clearly offside as he rushed forward, but the flag did not go up. By the time he was adjudged to have been in an illegal position, he had not only taken an unsuccessful shot, but Rose had as well. Confusion was king on that occasion as the referee finally stopped play for the Jets to take a free-kick.
Less than 10 minutes had passed in the second period of play when Newcastle forward O’Donovan was played through superbly by Thurgate. The striker had the option play what would have been a slightly difficult pass to Yuel who was completely free and in a better position to score, or take the shot on himself. The Irishman opted for the latter to go for glory and his shot was straight at shot-stopper Federici, who was in no serious trouble as he made a save.
A minute later Yuel received a solid pass from Najjarine and attempted a hard hit shot from outside the box on the right. Yet again a Newcastle effort was straight at the ‘keeper as they lacked that final sting in the attacking third.
With 65 minutes gone, one of the Jets’ many attacks from the right saw substitute Lucas Mauragis – who had come on for Hoffman – went down the flank and cut one back to Steven Ugarkovic in the middle. The midfielder angled his body and hit the ball well, but the shot ended up hitting the wrong side of the net.
Minutes later, Yuel went on an excellent run to the right of goal and looked up momentarily to see Najjarine rushing forward in all kinds of space. Yet the forward decided to go for glory with a tough angle at the near post that was collected by Macarthur goalkeeper Federici.
As the game went on, the Bulls being marshalled by skipper Mark Milligan in an unusual position in the centre of defence were doing well to hold on to the game by the skin of their teeth. They were also employing tactics to slow down the game on multiple occasions, while the home side did all they could to push onward and forward.
An interesting moment of the game came during stoppage time, when defender Aleksandar Susjnar defended poorly and had the ball clearly hit his hand in the penalty area. But referee Ben Abraham waved away all claims for a penalty, making a technically correct decision as the ball had come off the defender. While An instance such as this is likely to have calls for the rules to be revisited, the man in charge did make the right call on that occasion.
As the game finished, it was Macarthur who took all three points to go on top of the A-League, while Newcastle fell to their third straight defeat that sees them stuck at the bottom.
