Macarthur FC have pulled off a miraculous victory, fighting back from a goal down with 10 men to beat Newcastle 2-1 and retain top spot on the Isuzu UTE A-League table.
Bulls goalkeeper Filip Kurto was sent off in the 18th minute of Sunday’s clash at Campbelltown Stadium and Newcastle snatched the lead through Beka Mikeltadze’s wonderful free kick 17 minutes later.
But Macarthur wouldn’t lie down and Danny De Silva equalised with a brilliant volley three minutes after half-time, then teed up James Meredith to head home the winner in the 84th minute.
For Milicic, the fightback was even more special after the Bulls had a difficult build-up amid COVID-19 isolations, capped off by a player testing positive for the virus on Friday.
“It was spectacular. Even more so when when you take into consideration that I hadn’t seen the players since Wednesday, so the group didn’t train Thursday, Friday, Saturday,” Milicic said.
“So our lead-up both on the field and in the video room was pretty much non-existent and that was a major concern going into the game.
“It was probably changing hourly to be honest. Players getting tested, getting a positive result, getting a negative result, not getting their results, waiting.
“‘Can we train? We can’t? Should we do something on zoom with them? Do they go for a jog, get them ticking over? Make sure that they’re focused? Will the game go ahead?’ A lot of scenarios.
“But that’s things that you have to deal with and in the end we got the boys in together early and it’s probably been similar in some ways for today’s opponents.
“So no excuses, we always focus on ourselves and in the end I’m super proud of the boys because they got what they deserved and that’s three points.”
The game got off to a lively start before being plunged into chaos.
Valentino Yuel burst forward and Kurto came out of his box and went through the in-form striker.
Referee Alex King immediately stopped play to send Kurto off, electing not to play advantage – which left the Jets frustrated as Olivier Boumal had put the ball in the net.
Youngster Nick Suman replaced Kurto in between the sticks and was tested by Daniel Penha and Boumal before Newcastle’s breakthrough came.
After Mikeltadze was pushed in the back, the Georgian stepped up and fizzed a wonderful strike through the diving Suman’s outstretched palm.
Two minutes into the second half, Newcastle spurned a golden opportunity when Yuel just over-hit his attempt to find Boumal at the back post.
A minute later, Macarthur equalised in spectacular fashion.
Craig Noone lifted a cross towards De Silva, who smashed home a brilliant volley.
Macarthur’s winner came late, after Newcastle youngster Sam Silvera gave away a sloppy free kick in a dangerous area.
De Silva looped his free kick towards the back post and Meredith’s bullet header proved unstoppable.
Newcastle skipper Matt Jurman was unhappy when Bulls youngster Lachie Rose got away with a yellow card for a raking studs-up challenge on his leg in the dying minutes.
It was Macarthur’s first game back at Campbelltown Stadium since the pitch was deemed fit to play, but the playing surface still looked patchy.
Jets boss Arthur Papas had to deal with two positive COVID-19 cases in his program but wouldn’t use it as an excuse.
“I’m not going to come in here now because we dropped points and then all of a sudden start making excuses about why we lost,” Papas said.
“We lost, not because of the disruptions, we lost because we didn’t concentrate enough, we weren’t disciplined enough and we weren’t ruthless enough to finish the game at 1-0.
“I’d take the first 35 minutes and I wouldn’t take much after that in terms of positives.”
