Newcastle Jets ended a triumphant Isuzu Ute A-League regular season with a 4-0 win against rival Central Coast Mariners.
A two-goal burst midway through the first half separated the Jets in the contest after an earlier Mariners penalty shout was waved away.
It was three of Newcastle’s stars this season, Will Dobson, Clayton Taylor and Eli Adams, who scored the first-half goals before Kota Mizunuma added the fourth.
A crowd of 20,930 cheered on in party mode at McDonald Jones Stadium as Newcastle hoisted a club-first premiership after the game.
The premiership presentation ceremony.
Newcastle will now enjoy a week off and await the lowest advancing team from the elimination finals, while Central Coast end the season in ninth on the table.
The Mariners had a penalty shout in the 10th minute when Nathanael Blair was felled by Mark Natta as the two strode into the penalty area. But with no intervention from VAR it was Newcastle who would strike first 11 minutes later.
Dobson’s opener was a move that typified Newcastle’s ball speed and incisiveness. A pass from the defensive half from Joe Shaughnessy was collected by Ben Gibson and laid off to Dobson through the right channel where the 18-year-old rifled in his fourth goal of the season.
Four minutes later it was 2-0 when Taylor glanced an Eli Adams cross in at the near post with his instep.
Eli Adams threatened to make it 3-0 when his 32nd-minute free kick was tipped over by a diving save from Andrew Redmayne.
The Mariners rallied in the face of the onslaught, with Oliver Lavale hitting the post with a long-range shot in the 34th minute and Blair drawing a save from James Delianov in the 35th.
But it was Newcastle with the cutting edge as Eli Adams was first to react and nodded in after Redmayne parried a shot on a tight angle from Taylor.
The second half remained on Newcastle’s terms as they ran up 11 shots to Central Coast’s two.
Xavier Bertoncello hit the crossbar in the 79th minute, but Newcastle would not be denied a fourth goal when Mizunuma applied the finishing touch to a slick passing move through the left flank.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
WHAT THEY SAID
Will Dobson speaks after the game.
Central Coast Mariners coach Warren Moon speaks after his last game in charge of the team.
