Jets leave Perth with the points

Newcastle Jets left Members Equity Stadium with the points after a deserved 1-0 victory over Perth Glory in tonight’s Hyundai A-League clash and extended their unbeaten run to seven matches.

The Glory was unchanged in their starting line up, but on the bench David Tarka made his first appearance in the A-League since his long term injury. The jets made two changes to their starting line with big defender Allan Picken returning to partner Ned Zelic and new signing Vaughan Coveny joining Ante Milicic up front.

It was a lively opening in front of a disappointing 7,921 crowd and the Glory looked to press their home side advantage, if there is one in this league, after good work from Billy Celeski, Steve McMahon Jnr’s cross was well collected at his near post by Liam Reddy. The Jets also had early chances Allan Picken heading inches over after a Nick Carle corner.

The best chance for the home side came in the 12th minute, a great one-two on the edge of the box between Celeski and Bobby Depotovski. The veteran striker cut inside Jade North and his powerful shot cannoned back off the post with Reddy well beaten. The danger wasn’t over as the rebound fell to Naum Sekulovski whose shot was saved easily by Reddy.

Newcastle came within inches of taking the lead in the 22nd minute, Jamie Harnewell’s clearance was miss hit and Matt Horsley tried to head back to keeper Jason Petkovic. The attempt however was wide of the keeper and was rolling towards an unguarded net, some how Petkovic at full stretch scrambled the ball away for a corner.

Newcastle had come to Perth with a game plan and it was working a treat, with Picken and Zelic on top of the Perth duo Despotovski and Mori. It was Newcastle who was hitting on the counter attack Paul Kohler played in Coveny in the 25th minute, but the alert Petkovic was out quick to save at his feet.

The Glory Shed were all appealing for a penalty after Celeski was brought down after a great run into the box but referee Simon Przydacz waved away the claims. It was 0-0 at the break, the Glory unable to break down a well organised Jets side.

The second half was only two minutes old when the Jets scored the decider. The Glory defence seemed to still be in the dressing room when the unmarked Coveny headed a Jade North cross past the stranded Petkovic at the back post.

The Glory continued to struggle and the service from the flanks was none existence, coach McMahon made the change replacing Celeski and Sekulovski with Adrian Caceres and Hiroyuki Ishida in the 58th minute to try and improve this.

But it was the Jets who were running the game and the Glory looked lost for ideas continually being caught in possession and lacking the final quality ball. All they had to offer was long range shots which keeper Reedy dealt with ease. A great run down the right flank by Ishida in the 80th minute set up Nick Ward, but his long range shot was well wide.

With the Glory pushing forward in search of the equaliser Newcastle almost sealed the victory in the 89th minute, the speedy Nick Carle found Milicic who shot wide. As the game went into the three minutes of stoppage time it looked like the Glory had won a penalty after Richard Johnson seemed to handle the ball inside the box.

Much to the frustration of the Glory bench and supporters referee Przydacz said the offence was outside the box and awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. Colosimo swung in the free kick and Picken headed away the danger.

Their was still time for Glory and in the last seconds of stoppage time Caceres wriggling past his marker but his shot was into the side netting. It was a workman like performance, from Richard Money’s side. They set out their stall early and the Glory was unable to break them down.

Jets' coach Richard Money was full of praise for new signing Vaughan Coveny, saying he gave his side a new dimension, "People will think it maybe was a little bit of a gamble (playing him) but I never gave it a second thought. As soon as I knew he had signed he was in the team."

"The reason for that is exactly what he showed tonight, he gives us another total dimension. (Ante) Milicic has been searching for a partner all season and now he's got one, and the pair of them will really push us forward now."

Glory coach Steve McMahon was very disappointed, "We had no urgency tonight and I don't know why - we were a bit lethargic. We never took the game to them and we never fought issues the way we have done in the previous games, and we just lacked a little bit of fire in our belly tonight."

"The tempo was not there from the start. You have got to get yourself into the position where you make things happen, by chasing things down and getting second balls ... and earning the right to play and we did not do that."

"They played well and were organised, but I look at my side and they were disappointing."

Team Line-Ups

Perth:
GK. Jason Petkovic, 2. Matt Horsley, 4. Simon Colosimo, 5. Jamie Harnwell, 6. Steve McMahon Jr, 8. Nick Ward, 10. Bobby Despotovski, 14. Jamie Coyne, 15. Billy Celeski, 19. Naum Sekulovski, 22. Damian Mori - Subs; Milan Jovanic, Adrian Caceres, Hiroyuki Ishida, David Tarka.

Newcastle:
GK. Liam Reddy, 3. Jade North, 5. Ned Zelic, 7. Richard Johnson, 8. Matt Thompson, 9. Ante Milicic, 10. Nick Carle, 12. Paul Kohler, 13. Mateo Corbo, 22. Allan Picken, 25. Vaughan Coveny - Subs; Andy Petterson, Jobe Wheelhouse, Stuart Musialik, Labinot Haliti.

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