Adelaide United and Newcastle Jets played out a tight 1-1 draw at Coopers Stadium on Sunday.
Tiarn Powell handed the Lady Reds the lead in the 60th minute, with Jets forward Tara Andrews finding the equaliser six minutes before fulltime.
The Jets started the stronger, keeping possession and passing well with an early highlight being Andrews’ shot against the crossbar after seven minutes.
After 15 minutes, the game evened out and the Lady Reds started making moves forward, testing Jets goalkeeper Hannah Southwell on numerous occasions.
A midfield error by the Lady Reds was seized on by Jets’ midfielder Chloe Logarzo, who started and almost finished a counter attack but was denied by Lady Reds keeper, Kaitlyn Savage.
Adelaide suffered a minor blow when key striker Marijana Rajcic had to be substituted in the 38th minute with a suspected knee injury – Georgia Campagnale replaced her.
The Jets yet again started the stronger in the second half, but lacked the finishing touch and they were duly punished in the 60th minute, when Powell got to the end of a corner to slot the ball past Southwell.
The away side pushed for the equaliser, but were continually denied by Savage.
However, the Jets were to be rewarded at the 84th minute when Andrews pushed the ball across the line after Adriana Jones’ initial shot was parried by Savage.
Lady Reds coach Jamie Harnwell was unhappy with his team’s performance against the Jets.
“We played much better than that this season already and we weren’t in the races today,” Harnwell said.
“Newcastle were well deserved of a point, if not a little unlucky to take all three.”
The Lady Reds take on Sydney FC at Adelaide Shores Football Centre on Friday, while the Jets head to Brisbane to play the Roar at A.J Kelly Field on Sunday.
