The Newcastle Jets were defeated 3-2 by Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
The Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets were defeated 3-2 by Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
The Jets hadn-t scored at nib Stadium in their last four outings at the venue, but they quickly changed that with Tiago Calvano putting the visitors ahead in the sixth minute.
James Virgili showed great pace to skip past his man on the right flank, before playing a square ball to Heskey whose first-time shot was deflected for a corner.
Craig Goodwin took the set-piece and hit a lovely in-swinger that picked out Josh Mitchell back post. The former Perth man-s header back into the six-yard box was prodded home by Tiago to give the Jets a 1-0 advantage.
The Glory-s response was swift however, with Steven McGarry getting the home side back on level terms in the 11th minute.
The Jets attempted to clear a Glory corner but the ball only went as far as the Scotsman who hit a powerful low drive from 25 metres out into the bottom corner.
The Glory hit the front in the 37th minute through Nick Ward. Jamieson-s cross from the left was headed towards goal by Dean Heffernan, but was well saved by Mark Birighitti.
Unfortunately for the Jets however, the ball fell into the path of Ward who prodded it home from close range.
Birighitti was called into action again a short time later, this time pulling off a fantastic one-handed save to tip Ward-s header over the crossbar.
Perth almost doubled their advantage just before the half-time break, only for Scott Jamieson-s goal to be ruled out for offside.
Despite being behind at the interval, it was the Jets who took most of the initiative throughout the second half.
Emile Heskey-s neat lay-off to James Brown saw the former Gold Coast United played hit his angled drive just across the face of goal.
Heskey almost equalised himself just minutes later after Scott Neville beat a pair of Glory players and he worked his way into the box from the right flank.
He fired a low cross that picked out Heskey in the six-yard box, but he miscued his shot and Vukovic was able to make an easy save.
Vukovic denied Heskey again just four minutes later with a superb reflex save with his foot after Heskey had got on the end of a low cross from Ryan Griffiths.
However, the Jets eventually did earn a well-deserved equaliser in the 71st minute. Scott Neville-s diagonal cross was nodded down by Emile Heskey into the path of Josh Mitchell, who prodded the ball past Vukovic.
The Jets continued to surge forward in search of the winning goal and nearly had it in the 82nd minute when Griffiths whipped in a delightful ball from the left that just managed to elude Heskey with the goal gaping.
However, it was Perth who had the last laugh, with an 85th minute corner falling kindly for Chris Harold, who was on hand at the back post to blast the ball into the back of the net.
Newcastle Jets (Tiago 6- Mitchell 71-
Perth Glory (McGarry 11- Ward 37-, Harold 85-)
Crowd 9,293 at nib Stadium.
Newcastle Jets Starting XI: 2. Scott NEVILLE 3. Tiago CALVANO (18. Jacob PEPPER 91-), 4. Josh MITCHELL, 7.James BROWN (10. Bernardo RIBEIRO 77-), 8. Ruben ZADKOVICH, 9. Emile HESKEY, 15. Craig GOODWIN, 16. Jobe WHEELHOUSE (c), 17. James VIRGILI, 20. Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 23. Ryan GRIFFITHS.
Yellow cards: Josh MITCHELL 8-, Ryan GRIFFITHS 34-, Tiago CALVANO 44-, James VIRGILI 79-.
Subs not used: 14. Taylor REGAN, 33. Matt NASH (gk).
Perth Glory Starting XI: 1. Danny VUKOVIC (gk), 3. Bas VAN DEN BRINK, 4. Billy MEHMET, 6. Nick WARD (17. Chris HAROLD 77-), 8. Dean HEFFERNAN, 10. Liam MILLER, 13. Travis DODD, 14. Steven MCGARRY (18. Jesse MAKAROUNAS 74-), 19. Josh RISDON, 21. Scott JAMIESON, 23. Michael THWAITE.
Yellow cards: Joshua RIDSON 42-, Michael THWAITE 52-, Nick WARD 59-, Scott JAMIESON 65-
Subs not used: 11. Adrian ZAHRA, 30. Lewis ITALIANO (gk).
