The Newcastle Jets have opened their Westfield W-League campaign in style with an impressive 3-0 win over Adelaide United at Adamstown Oval on Saturday afternoon.
The Newcastle Jets have opened their Westfield W-League campaign in style with an impressive 3-0 win over Adelaide United at Adamstown Oval on Saturday afternoon.
The Jets controlled the match from opening whistle and never let up. Newcastle went ahead in just the fifth minute through attacking midfielder Linda O’Neill before Matilda’s striker Lisa de Vanna picked up a second-half brace to seal a convincing victory.
Adelaide finished the game with 10 players after Katherine Ebbs was sent from the field late in the piece after collecting her second yellow card.
The Round 2 fixture started in warm, balmy conditions in front of a Jets Westfield W-League home crowd record of close to 1,000 fans and it was the home side that controlled the tempo from the beginning.
De Vanna showed plenty of pace as she romped into space down the left wing before sending a lovely cross into the box where O’Neill slammed the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead after just five minutes.
The match settled down from that point as Adelaide worked hard in the midfield to see forward Ashleigh Gunning fire over the Jets goal from long range in the 15th minute.
But the chances were few and far between for the visitors as the home side regained control of the match.
The Jets were unlucky not to double their advantage when Nicola Bolger hit the post with a smart shot on the half-hour mark before De Vanna saw her close-range attempt pushed around the post by Adelaide goalkeeper Kristi Harvey to send the teams to half-time with Newcastle leading 1-0.
The Jets went 2-0 ahead just two minutes into the second half when a long ball from Hannah Brewer put De Vanna through on goal. The hard-working forward showed great composure to take the ball into the box before calmly slotting past an advancing Harvey.
De Vanna grabbed her second goal after good lead-up work from substitute Rhali Dobson and Tara Andrews, who laid the ball on a plate for De Vanna to stroke home from the edge of the area for the Jets to go 3-0 up after 68 minutes.
Adelaide came back into the match with striker Marijana Rajcic going close in the 70th minute before substitute forward Georgia Macri hit the post with a sweetly-hit shot from 20 metres out.
A piece of enterprising play from the Jets down the left wing saw De Vanna put the ball into the back of the net for what looked her hat-trick but she was called back for offside.
Adelaide were reduced to 10 players late in the match when Ebbs was shown her second yellow for an overly strong tackle on O-Neill.
Newcastle looked to take advantage of the extra player in the final few minutes but Harvey kept the scoreline from blowing out with a number of quality saves denying Dobson, De Vanna and O-Neill from close range as the Jets pushed until the final whistle to launch their 2011/12 season in style.
Newcastle Jets 3 (O’Neill 5, De Vanna 47, 68)
Adelaide United 0
Crowd 847 at Adamstown Oval, Newcastle.
