New Year’s Day in Newcastle saw the Jets take on Sydney FC at McDonald Jones Stadium.
The majority of the match was back and forth with chances coming at both ends; however it was a clinical display late in the second half from Sydney that saw them put away two quick fire goals in the space of four minutes.
Sydney soaked up pressure well during the 90 minutes and executed the plan to break quickly once winning the ball back.
Jets were the team on top in the second half, but some resolute defending kept the home team at bay. The substitutes that Arthur Papas made did seem to have an impact, however, it wasn’t enough to overturn the lackluster first-half showing.
The opening period saw some end-to-end action, with early chances coming from each of the sides off the back of some defensive errors from each team. Reno Piscopo found himself in space early in the first half on multiple occasions, but the final product wasn’t there to match.
Newcastle were patient, beginning their play from the backline.
However, Sydney were just as patient waiting for a mistake and attempting to force the turnover.
On one of these occasions, Sydney broke down the left after winning the ball back, with Diego Caballo finding acres of space. He had ample time to pick out a pinpoint cross to the back post, where Adam Le Fondre was waiting to slot it past the helpless Jack Duncan.
Newcastle appeared rattled after conceding the opening goal and were immediately put on the backfoot again, with Sydney sensing the opportunity to strike twice in quick succession.
A quickly taken throw-in near the corner flag by Sydney allowed Anthony Caceres to get in behind the backline, cutting back the ball to Robert Mak who beat Angus Thurgate and finished nicely, making it two goals in four minutes for the away side.
The second half began in similar fashion to the first, and the less-than-stellar finishing display from Newcastle continued.
Beka Dartsmelia was unusually inefficient with his set pieces, often failing to beat the first man. Some last ditch defending from James Donachie and Jack Rodwell kept a livelier Jets side out, who looked to be strengthened by Brandon O’Neill and Trent Buhagiar coming on midway through the second half.
The game finished with Sydney seeing it out comfortably in the end, equal to the task of keeping the Jets attack at bay.
Sydney push back up the table into a finals position, while Newcastle languish in 8th with multiple teams below them yet to play this round. Papas will have to ensure the team can put in some back-to-back performances if they are aiming to finish in the top-half this season.
Newcastle Jets 0
Sydney FC 2 (Le Fondre 37’, Mak 41’)
McDonald Jones Stadium
Referee: Alireza Faghani
Assistant Referees: Ryan Gallagher and Brad Wright
Fourth Official: Tim Danaskos
Newcastle Jets: Jack DUNCAN, Dane INGHAM, Carl JENKINSON (Callum TIMMINS 76’), Jordan ELSEY, Marc NATTA, Jaushua SOTIRIO (Trent BUHAGIAR 62’), Beka DARTSMELIA (Daniel STYNES 84’), Angus THURGATE (Jason HOFFMAN 76’), Kostandinos GROZOS (Brandon O’NEILL 62’), Beka MIKELTADZE, Reno PISCOPO
Unused subs: Matthew JURMAN, Michael WEIER
Sydney FC: Andrew REDMAYNE, Rhyan GRANT, James DONACHIE, Jack RODWELL (Aaron GURD 77’), Diego CABALLO, Anthony CACERES, Luke BRATTAN, Paulo RETRE (Patrick YAZBEK 71’), Robert MAK, Adam LE FONDRE, Max BURGESS (Adrian SEGECIC 71’)
Unused subs: Tom HEWARD-BELLE, Jaiden KUCHARSKI, Jake GIRDWOOD-REICH, Patrick WOOD
Feature Image Credit: Sproule Sports Focus
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