A lone goal from Valentino Yuel was enough to seal a solid 1-0 victory for Newcastle Jets against Melbourne City, as the travellers will undoubtedly rue the missed opportunities during the encounter between the two sides.
The visitors came into this game having scored in their last 19 meetings against the New South Wales outfit, while the Jets were looking for their first home win of the season. Meanwhile, midfielder Jason Hoffman was making his 150th appearance for the hosts. Ramy Najjarine was ineligible to play for the home side as he is on loan from City.
There was a short period of applause prior to the game to pay tribute to the passing of former Australia international striker Frank Parsons prior to the game getting under way.
Seven minutes was all it took for City striker Jamie Maclaren to get a great chance as he went clean through for a one-on-one with goalkeeper Jack Duncan. The shot-stopped came off his line to close down the angle and made an excellent save with his right hand to deny the effort, following which the defence cleared the ball away.
Just under 15 minutes had passed when Hoffman and Yuel combined well for the former to unleash a bullet of a shot from the right side of the box. While the shot was aimed straight at Tom Glover, the ‘keeper needed to – and did – produce a near instant reaction to make the save.
Almost 30 minutes into the game was when the ball found the back of the net for the first time, when Yuel got onto the end of a cross to head it past the goalkeeper. But fellow forward Roy O’Donovan being an interference as the shot-stopper attempted a save meant that the goal was disallowed due to the Irishman being offside.
Newcastle broke the deadlock five minutes before the end of the first-half to make it 1-0. Hoffman and Steven Ugarkovic combined well on the right to send the ball towards midfielder Angus Thurgate to head towards the target. The effort hit the post but still looked like it would go it, but goalkeeper Glover got a glove on it to stop the ball from going in. Yuel, however, was alert in the area and latched onto the loose ball to send it home.
Within a short time after play resumed following the break, the Jets wide man Hoffman was taken down on the right wing. In the set-play that ensued, the 32-year-old put the ball into the back of the net. But the ignominious flag was raised for offside with no one having any complaints concerning the decision.
A few minutes later, City’s creative wide man Craig Noone sent in a cross from the right wing that was going towards the near post for Maclaren. But the striker’s shot went just wide of the target.
The next attack from Patrick Kisnorbo’s men followed shortly thereafter, as Adrian Luna and Nathaniel Atkinson combined well to setup a near certain goal. But opposing defender John Koutroumbis put in a last ditch effort to clear the ball away.
A little past the hour mark saw the Jets attacker O’Donovan break away on the right wing and sent it to Yuel, who was in a lot of space in the box. But the positioning of the former Western United forward was a bit off as he was unable to control the ball, during which time the visitors did well to pull back and eventually clear the danger.
After 72 minutes, City midfielder Luna made an incredibly quick break after dispossessing an opponent, surging ahead in a counterattacking move with striker Maclaren to go two-on-one with the goalkeeper. But young defensive midfielder Thurgate blazed a trail as he tracked back to catch up while hoping to potentially intercept a pass between the two City players. This allowed shot-stopper Duncan to close down Luna and eventually stop the attack from bearing fruit for the visitors.
The Melbourne-based outfit added one more to their list of missed chances in the 79th minute, when Stefan Colakovski crossed low for Ben Garuccio to find himself in all kinds of space. But the former Adelaide United man did not take the time he needed and scuffed his shot as it went wide of the goal.
As the referee brought the game to a halt, the Jets registered their first win of the season at home, while the travellers fell to their fourth defeat in their last five games.
Newcastle travel to take on Brisbane Roar at the Dolphin Stadium on next Sunday, while Melbourne City continue their travels with an away day against Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.
