Newcastle Jets forward Roy O’Donovan says a point was the least his side deserved after scoring a late equaliser in a dogged, determined Jets performance against Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night.
O’Donovan’s goal from the spot helped the Jets clinch a well-earned point in a 1-1 draw at Bankwest Stadium. It was the striker’s second goal in as many games after netting the winner in a 2-1 win over Wellington Phoenix in Matchweek 5.
O’Donovan says the four points collected by the Jets in their last two fixtures are a testament to their turning fortunes, and a sign of things to come.
MATCH REPORT: Western Sydney Wanderers 1-1 Newcastle Jets
“I thought we were very resilient, and we have been all season,” O’Donovan told FOX Sports post-match.
“We deserved at least a point out of the game today.
“Again the young boys stood up, were counted, and the likes of (Nigel) Boogaard and (Nikolai) Topor-Stanley, (with) that experience, (and) Steve Ugarkovic – outstanding.”
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The Jets trailed the Wanderers 1-0 at half-time but came out for the second half applying a tireless press which kept Carl Robinson’s side camped out in their back half.
The concerted pressing effort came from Jets boss Craig Dean’s half-time request for the entire side to click through the gears and provide a greater challenge to their opponents.
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“(Deans) just said basically ‘lads, you’re playing okay, but you’ve got another 15-20% in you, so you’ve got to turn up the tempo and really put the game to them,” O’Donovan said.
“I thought we did to be fair, we didn’t create a lot of clear-cut chances, I thought Val looked very sharp when we put him in behind but we didn’t do it enough.
We take the point, we move on, because I think we turned a massive corner last week.”
The result ultimately turned on a controversial moment in the second half, when Patrick Ziegler left a foot in on Jets substitute Luca Pršo who went down in the box after the challenge.
A penalty was awarded and O’Donovan duly made the Wanderers pay, but after a similar challenge on James Troisi was waived away in the opening half, Robinson vented his frustrations at what he described at incredible inconsistencies in refereeing throughout the contest.
“You can’t have inconsistencies,” Robinson told FOX Sports.
“As soon as you bring VAR in, it allows referees off the hook.
“A conversation I had with the referee at half time about our (not given) penalty, is the opposite of what he did in the second half.
“Whether they were penalties or not is up for debate – if you guys think they are or they aren’t it doesn’t really matter – But you can’t give on and not the other, the inconsistency is incredible.
We’re talking about growing the game and trying to improve it, and that includes everything, but today I thought it was a very poor performance.”
In dissecting the rest of the action, Robinson conceded the difference in the application of his side before and after half time allowed the Jets back into the contest, which the visitors ultimately took advantage of in finding the equaliser.
Whether the manner in which the equalising goal eventually came was fair or not in his eyes, Robinson says a lack of execution in the final third and the transition of momentum to the Jets in the second half meant his side could not capitalise on what was an encouraging first half outing.
“I think we played some really good stuff in the first half, we got the goal that we probably deserved,” he said.
“In the second half I thought they were better than us, they altered a few things and we couldn’t get out.
“Football is momentum, the second half was never going to be the same.
“The first 15 minutes they were the better team, then we couldn’t quite get a grip of it.
“We had transition chances, but we didn’t execute, so we probably deserved nothing in the second half.”
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