Perth Glory has missed out on clinching the National Youth League minor premiership as it slipped up to Newcastle in a nail-biting 3-2 loss at Clipsal Stadium on Saturday evening.
With Central Coast drawing 0-0 with Sydney earlier in the afternoon, the door was ajar for the second-placed Glory to overtake the Mariners and claim the minor premiership if they defeated the Jets.
But despite starting the game in a positive fashion, a Glory side missing most of its first-choice midfield fell three goals behind by half-time as Newcastle took advantage of some mistakes in defence.
The hosts responded in style after the break, though, as impressive young striker Tommy Amphlett scored twice in the second half, before coming agonisingly close to adding the third during injury time.
The result means the Glory finishes the season in second position on the National Youth League table, one point behind minor premiers Central Coast.
The Jets, meanwhile, finish their campaign on a positive note and in seventh position.
Newcastle threatened as early as the fourth minute as Damian Brosque, the brother of Sydney FC’s Alex, swung in a dangerous free kick that curled narrowly wide of the upright.
Perth, though was producing some good movement through its middle third but couldn’t penetrate a Newcastle back four that was defending deeply.
The visitors opened the scoring in the 17th minute as Fabian Iacovelli’s cross picked out Jarrad Ross, the forward driving the ball home.
It was a fortunate series of events for Ross, though, the forward only making the starting XI after William Angel was injured warming up.
And it just got worse for the Glory two minutes later as a mis-placed pass from Josh Risdon exposed what had been a solid Glory defence, allowing the feisty Iacovelli to run onto the ball and fire home the second.
Just after the half hour a stunning move by the Glory almost paid dividends as Hayden Doyle, deputising at centre-back for the injured Steven Hesketh, delivered a long ball to Amphlett on the left, the striker evading the defence to send in a cross for Anthony Skorich to head at goal.
But Skorich didn’t quite get enough on his header and the chance went begging, the Jets making the Glory pay further as Howard Fondyke’s attempted clearance of an innocuous cross looped over goalkeeper Alex Pearson and into his own net a minute before the break.
In the 67th minute, Pearson did well to get down low and smother the ball in front of the onrushing Ross, the Glory stopper’s efforts not going to waste as Amphlett pulled one back just a minute later through a quality long-range strike.
Second-half substitute Sebit Oyet had also looked impressive for Perth down the right flank as he used his pace to expose some tired Newcastle legs, the midfielder playing his hand in the second as the Glory scored again with 15 minutes left.
Oyet’s cross was expertly controlled by Mario Marcinko, who teed the ball up for Amphlett to slam home his second from 15 metres.
The Glory were dominating by this stage, but they couldn’t turn their possession into a third goal as Marcinko nodded over the bar from a good position in the 83rd minute.
Newcastle came close to adding a fourth two minutes later as Pearson did well to palm away Jesse Pinto’s goalbound strike.
But the Glory almost snatched a point deep into injury time as Amphlett got on the end of a Ludovic Boi corner, only to have Jets goalkeeper Robbie Kolak bravely leap over the ball at the striker’s feet.
Perth Glory 2 (Amphlett 68, 75)
Newcastle Jets 3 (Ross 17, Iacovelli 19, Fondyke 44og)
