Two goals from Newcastle striker Sasho Petrovski has handed the Jets a valuable 2-0 win over Ulsan Hyundai in match day two of their Group E Asian Champions League fixture at EnergyAustralia Stadium in Newcastle on Tuesday night.
Petrovski, who was signed by the Jets in the off-season from local rivals the Central Coast Mariners, picked up two first-half goals to complete a dominate display by the home side in the opening stanza.
Ulsan attacked with more venom in the second half and created more opportunities than their hosts who were content to sit back and absorb the Koreans’ advances and keep a clean sheet to the final whistle.
The debut win for the Jets in their first foray into Asia leaves them third in their group with a win and a loss, while Ulsan sits bottom of the group with two losses from their opening two matches in the 2009 ACL.
The Jets controlled play from the opening whistle and profited from their territorial advantage with a nicely constructed goal in the 15th minute.
A Newcastle corner was cleared by the Ulsan defence but only as far as Jets midfielder Ben Kantarovski, who lobbed the ball back into the box where Nikolai Topor-Stanley headed to fellow defender Ljubo Milicevic.
He volleyed over his head for striker Sasho Petrovski to fire a left-footed strike into the goal from 12 yards out.
Ulsan almost hit back straight away when Kantarovski surrendered possession deep in his own half.
Ulsan’s Brazilian striker Luisinho pounced on the loose ball and fired a low goal-bound shot that was turned around the post via a fingertip save from Jets goalkeeper Ante Covic.
Covic pulled off another good stop just after the half-hour mark when Ulsan midfielder Kim Young Sam got the better of Jets’ Italian import Fabio Vignaroli and unleashed a curling shot from outside the box which forced Covic into a full-length diving save.
Down the other end Ulsan keeper Kim Seung Gyu proved just as valuable as he parried away shots from Tarek Elrich and a goal-bound header from Dutch import Donny De Groot.
But the Korean keeper was unable to stop Petrovski snaring his second goal just before half-time.
The Jets striker won a free-kick 35 metres out from goal and then rose above the defence on the edge of the box to meet Vignaroli’s pin-point kick and head over the diving Seung Gyu to send the Jets to the half-time break leading 2-0.
It was the visitors who came out with more impetus in the second half but the Newcastle defence was largely untroubled by the Ulsan attack with the best chances going to Luisinho, whose 25-yard free-kick beat the Jets defence only to sail narrowly wide and a late volley from substitute Kim Jong Eun that was saved by Covic.
Newcastle Jets 2
(Petrovski 15, 43)
Ulsan Hyundai 0
Crowd 7314 at EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle.
