Late goals from Kale Bradbery and Radovan Pavicevic secured a first win of the National League Season for Newcastle Jets as they downed Perth Glory 3-2 on Sunday.
Late goals from Kale Bradbery and Radovan Pavicevic secured a first win of the National League Season for Newcastle Jets as they downed Perth Glory 3-2 on Sunday.
Making light of a bumpy pitch and blustery conditions at Intiga Stadium in Inglewood, both sides played their part in an entertaining contest before the Jets struck in the 88th and 90th minutes to clinch the points.
The visitors came into the game looking for their first victory of the season and made the best possible start by taking the lead inside the opening 10 minutes.
Glory defender Matthew Davies floored Stevan Ilic as he powered his way into the box and Bradbery made no mistake from the spot.
Stung by that early set-back, the hosts forced their way back into the contest as the half wore on, with Chris Harold looking especially lively as he backed up from his goalscoring appearance for the senior side on Saturday night.
The 20-year-old midfielder went close on 17 minutes before playing a key role in his side’s equaliser which arrived on the half-hour mark.
Ndumba Makeche got away down the right and delivered a deep cross which Harold nodded back across goal for Ryo Nagai to drill home from close range.
Having restored parity, Gareth Naven’s men seized the initiative and should have got their noses in front before the break.
Makeche twice failed to find the net when sent clean through on goal, while Nagai fired over from just inside the box and then saw his 25-metre free-kick kept out by a scrambling save from Jets ‘keeper Matthew Nash.
Glory should have made it 2-1 within seconds of the second-half getting underway, but Jesse Makarounas delayed his shot after the Jets played themselves into trouble and Nash was able to make a comfortable save.
Zahra was the next to go close for the hosts, firing wide after being teed up by Makeche before the referee was forced to call a brief halt to proceedings as a deluge of hail swept across the ground.
To their credit, neither side allowed that interruption or the flurry of substitutions that followed to throw them out of their stride and chances continued to come and go at either end.
Glory’s Makarounas saw another shot fly over on 72 minutes, while the lively Bradbery burst clear on goal but could only drag his shot wide with substitute goalkeeper Devon Spence beaten.
The Jets’ number 11, however, wasn’t to be denied, slicing through the Glory defence and sliding the ball past Spence with two minutes to go before teeing up Pavicevic for his side’s third goal in stoppage time.
There was still time for Makarounas to reduce the deficit seconds later, but it was too little too late for the men in purple.
Perth Glory: 2 ( Nagai 30′, Makarounas 90 +3′)
Newcastle Jets: 3 (Bradbery (pen) 10′, 88′ Pavicevic 90′)
Intiga Stadium, Inglewood
Perth Glory: 1. Lewis Italiano (16. Devon Spence 60′), 2. Matthew Davies, 3. Ryan Lowry, 5. Riley Woodcock, 6. Brandon O-Neill, 7. Adrian Zahra, 8. Jesse Makarounas, 9. Ndumba Makeche (12. Harry O-Brien 60′), 10. Chris Harold, 11. Ryo Nagai (4. Borbor Sam 46′), 14. Jacob Collard (13. Blamo Quaqua 60′)
Newcastle Jets: 1. Matthew Nash, 2. Andrew Hoole, 3. Mason Campbell, 4. Nicholas Cowburn (14. Michael Kantarovski 60′), 5. Samuel Galloway, 6. Nicholas Pepper (12. Blake Green 60′), 7. Bobby Russel, 8. Koh Satake, 9. Stevan Ilic (17. Radovan Pavicevic 56′), 10. Michael Finlayson, 11. Kale Bradbery,
Substitutes not used: 20. Nicholas Hartnett
