Milestones are to be celebrated and the Newcastle Jets had reason to party when they met Melbourne Victory in the 1000th Hyundai A-League fixture in December 2013.
Beaten only twice over the opening eight rounds, Gary van Egmond’s men ventured south to AAMI Park in good spirits.
And their festive cheer was buoyed further by Nathan Burns’ brace in an impressive 2-1 win over a Victory side that went on to finish fourth.
The entertaining afternoon might have played out differently had a flying Mark Birighitti not denied Adam Traore a spectacular opener shortly after the half-hour.
Instead, it was the Jets going ahead on the stroke of half-time as Burns bounced a one-two off Adam Taggart before tucking a tidy finish inside Nathan Coe’s near post.
It was the attacker’s first goal in the competition in over six years and proved a sign of what was to come.
James Troisi – in a season that earned him a World Cup place – equalised from close-range soon after the restart, but this was Burns’ match.
James Brown’s low cross wriggled through to the man of the occasion and he made no mistake with a side-footed finish, putting the seal on a memorable away day for the Hunter club.
