An own goal from Jets midfielder Ben Kantarovski has handed the Melbourne Heart their first point in the Hyundai A-League with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Friday night.
The Jets dominated the match and deservedly took the lead in the 60th minute via World Cup New Zealander Jeremy Brockie. But a defensive blunder from Kantarovski 12 minutes from full-time allowed the Heart grab a share of the points.
The game got underway in perfect conditions in front of an encouraging crowd and it was the visitors who had the early chances through giant striker Gerald Sibon.
The Dutchman saw Jets keeper Ben Kennedy mark his goal-bound 30-metre free-kick in the 11th minute before a volley from the edge of the area flew narrowly wide of the target just a few moments later.
From that point on however it was the Jets who dominated proceedings.
Newcastle striker Michael Bridges forced Clint Bolton into a fine diving save in the 16th minute after Brockie chased down a long ball and squared it back to the edge of the box for his skipper.
Just moments later Bridges provided a lovely through ball for Marko Jesic, who saw his shot from 15 metres also well saved by Bolton.
Jesic was providing plenty of headaches for the Heart with his swinging dead ball plays and Bridges and Kantarovski went close with headed shots.
The Heart were put under more pressure when Josip Skoko was forced from the field with a hamstring strain midway through the first half.
Newcastle continued to press forward with Bridges shooting over from long range and Ali Abbas heading over from just six yards out.
Despite the home side’s dominance it was Melbourne who had the best remaining chance of the half when Nicholas Kalmar rose above the pack to get a header on target from a well-weighted corner kick only to see Kennedy produce a great reflex save to push the ball over the crossbar.
The Jets looked like they had earned a penalty five minutes into the second half when Bridges was brought down in the area only for referee Ryan Shepheard to show the Newcastle skipper a yellow card for diving.
Just a few moments later Jets defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley fired a header wide from another dangerous Jesic corner.
The Jets finally got the goal they deserved on the hour mark when Brockie grabbed his first goal for the club.
The move started when Kantarovski won the ball in the middle of the park before having great vision to deliver a looping ball for Brockie on the right wing, who pushed the ball back inside on his right foot before delivering a low left-foot shot that wrong-footed Bolton to trickle into the net.
With the match seemingly in Newcastle’s keeping an own goal from Kantarovski allowed the heart back into the contest 12 minutes before full-time.
A Melbourne long ball was chased down by Alex Terra, who looked covered by the Jets defence as play was taken to the edge of the area only for the ball to pop out and Kantarovski, who acted reactively by scooping the ball over his own goalkeeper and into the net.
The Jets pushed forward for a late winner but it was not to be as the Heart held on to register their first point in the A-League.
Newcastle Jets 1 (Brockie 60)
Melbourne Heart 1 (Kantarovski 78og)
Crowd: 8,735 at EnergyAustralia Stadium
