The Newcastle Jets have snatched a dramatic injury-time equaliser through Jade North to grab a share of the points in a thrilling 3-3 draw with the Perth Glory at Members Equity Stadium.
The Newcastle Jets have snatched a dramatic injury-time equaliser through Jade North to grab a share of the points in a thrilling 3-3 draw with the Perth Glory at Members Equity Stadium.
The Glory twice came from behind before taking a 3-2 lead in the 81st minute, only to let an elusive victory slip through their fingers when North fired in his late finish during the fourth minute of added time.
The Jets took the lead in the 19th minute through a Joel Griffiths penalty before Argentine Adrian Trinidad, in his Glory debut, won and converted a penalty nine minutes before the break.
Jin-Hyung Song gave the visitors the lead once again three minutes after the re-start following a slack bit of defending from the hosts before Eugene Dadi equalised once again with a towering header that must rank among one of the best team goals seen at this stadium.
And, it appeared the Glory were heading for maximum points when Nikita Rukavytsya smashed in a powerful running goal nine minutes from time, but there was more heartbreak to come for the Perth side as victory was snatched from their grasp.
Perth coach Dave Mitchell said the result had hit the players hard.
“Gutted, you know,” said Mitchell following the match. “It feels like a loss but we picked up a point and it should have been three, no denying that fact and I think Newcastle will find themselves very lucky today.”
But despite grabbing the late point, Jets coach Gary van Egmond still felt it was a victory his club had given away.
“We we’re 3-2 down in injury time, and you get out with the draw, you should be feeling lucky,” van Egmond said.
“But I’m not feeling lucky at all. I’m feeling that game should have been dead and buried well and truly prior to that.”
“When you’re not ruthless in front of goal and you don’t go on with it, you invite the other team back in and that’s exactly what we did.”
After a cagey opening, the Jets appeared most likely to threaten as Edmundo Zura exposed the Glory’s left side for pace.
But in front of an energetic home crowd, it was the Glory that produced the first real chance in the seventh minute when Dadi controlled a lobbed cross from Mark Lee, allowing his strike partner Trinidad to attempt an overhead shot that Ante Covic easily saved.
Both midfields looked energetic, neither of them shying from the tackle, but both sides could only create half chances until the Jets opened the scoring through Joel Griffiths.
Last season’s Hyundai A-League top goal scorer was picked out by a sensational pass and taken down on the edge of the box by Djulbic as referee Craig Zetter pointed to the spot.
Replays suggested Griffiths was taken down outside the box but the No.9 dispatched the penalty past Juric with confidence.
The Glory’s defence looked rattled and it took a well-timed tackle from Perth skipper Jamie Coyne to cut off another good run by Zura before the hard work of Trinidad and Amaral through the centre paid off.
Jets goalkeeper Ante Covic produced a sensational save to block a towering Topor-Stanley downward header, but he couldn’t grasp the ball and Newcastle defender Adam Griffiths could only bundle Trinidad off the ball in a goal mouth scramble, giving the Argentinian a penalty he quickly dispatched in the 36th minute.
Within moments of the re-start, the Jets could have re-taken the lead after Juric allowed Song’s cross to drift across the goal, with Djulbic almost accidentally putting it in his own goal, but that was as good as it got for the visitors as Perth was camped in Newcastle’s defensive third for the rest of the half.
The half-time whistle couldn’t have come fast enough for the under-siege Jets, but they made the most of the break, attacking from the outset and catching out the Glory’s defence in the 48th minute.
Joel Griffiths slipped a ball to the impressive Song and the Korean fired in a low shot that evaded a static Glory defence and slipped below Juric’s dive.
The hosts looked shell shocked but the Jets failed to capitalise on a good period of dominance.
Two minutes before the hour, the Glory made them pay as they equalised in spectacular style.
Scott Bulloch picked out Amaral in the right corner and the former-Fiorentina player produced a pin-point volleyed cross that Dadi finished off in style, leaping high above two defenders to glance a powerful header past Covic.
The game was lifting in intensity, becoming an end-to-end battle as both teams swept up and down the park, but the decisive move looked to have been made in the 80th minute when Nikita Rukavytsya, on for Mark Lee, took the ball with his first touch, ran 40 metres and belted a powerful shot past Covic off the post.
But deep into four minutes of injury time, as the Jets pressed once more, Jade North ghosted into the area and delivered the equaliser with virtually the last kick of the game, giving the current premiers their second last-minute draw in a row.
Perth Glory 3 (Trinidad 36p, Dadi 58, Rukavytsya 81)
Newcastle Jets 3 (J. Griffiths 19p, Song 48, North 90)
Crowd 8876 at Members Equity Stadium, Perth
