Newcastle Jets assistant coach Mark Jones admitted his side ‘threw away two points’ after conceding an equaliser in the fourth minute of extra time to draw 1-1 with Adelaide in their Round 13 Hyundai A-League clash at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Sunday night.
The Jets led from the 56th minute courtesy of a strike by Matt Thompson but let slip a much-needed win when they allowed Adelaide defender Sasa Ognenovski to head home in virtually the last play of the tense match.
“We know we have thrown away two points and at the end of the day you are accountable for your mistakes and I guess we made a mistake in extra time,” a despondent Jones said after the match.
“I think we had done more than enough to win the game but I suppose if we had taken all our opportunities we wouldn’t be in a position to concede a goal in extra, extra time. And that is what happened.”
The Jets went into the match without key players Joel Griffiths and Mark Milligan, who were suspended after red-card incidents in last week’s match, and minus Korean playmaker Jin-Hyung Song who rolled his ankle at training the day before the match.
Despite the depleted personnel Jones, who was standing in for suspended head coach Gary van Egmond, said he was proud of the performance of the team.
“The senior boys led by example today,” he said. “Matt Thompson did everything that was asked of a number 10, he worked hard and a goal and you can’t ask for much more. And I thought Adam Griffiths was magnificent as well.”
“I thought the performance of the young guys was great in terms of work ethic. I think we worked harder than Adelaide. I thought we outrun them and outworked them and created enough opportunities to win the game and it is extremely disappointing not to win.”
The draw leaves the defending Hyundai A-League Champions two wins out of the top four with eight rounds left to play and Jones conceded that the task to make the semis is getting more difficult.
“Each week when you don’t get maximum points the target seems to get a bit further away,” he said.
“It would have been nice to pick up three points, but we will regroup and try to beat Sydney next week and see how the table pans out for us.”
