Newcastle Jets and a 10-man Perth Glory have played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Ausgrid Stadium, with neither side being able to celebrate the New Year with a convincing win as they shared the spoils.
Newcastle Jets and a 10-man Perth Glory have played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Ausgrid Stadium, with neither side being able to celebrate the New Year with a convincing win as they shared the spoils.
Perth Glory did well to walk away with a point after being reduced to 10 men away from home, goalscorer Billy Mehmet was shown a straight red card just 30 minutes into the contest after giving his side the lead.
Newcastle came out on top after the break with the numerical advantage, but couldn-t break down their opposition enough to get the goals they needed, and the three points.
Perth Glory took an early lead after Billy Mehmet got in front of his defender to convert a Travis Dodd cross after just 9 minutes.
The visitors continued to threaten the Jets defence during the opening exchanges and Mehmet almost doubled Perth Glory-s lead but missed the target with his header in front of goal.
Newcastle looked to get themselves back in the contest and hit the wood work on 17 minutes after Taylor Regan sent in a shot at the back post following a corner.
The match erupted into controversy on the half hour mark when Mehmet slid in on Tiago, with what appears to be a fair if risky challenge right on front of the benches. But referee Strebre Delovski had no hesitation in sedning the striker off.
Travis Dodd was left as the lone striker for Perth Glory and it took some good defending from Taylor Regan on 52 minutes to prevent the speedy striker from adding to their lead after the restart.
Gary Van Egmond again looked to his bench for some inspiration and brought on Francis Jeffers early in the second half. It took the Englishman just six minutes to find the back of the net after he headed home Kasey Wehrman-s cross in fine fashion.
Unfortunately for Jeffers and for the Newcastle Jets, he had to be replaced shortly after coming on and scoring the all important goal for the home side.
The Jets continued to dominate proceedings with the advantage, pressing forward whenever possible but they were unable to find the winning goal in front of another strong Newcastle crowd.
Newcastle Jets striker Michael Bridges said: “It would have been nice to finish off the year with a win at home; but credit to them they made it hard for us to break them down.”
Newcastle will now go on to face Gold Coast United in desperate need for a win, while Perth Glory will host the Brisbane Roar.
Newcastle Jets 1 (Jeffers 61)
Perth Glory 1 (Mehmet 9)
