Jets v Glory

A-League report by Robert Szomolnoki
Newcastle United Jets v Perth Glory


Perth Glory has followed up their two big wins from last season at Newcastle International Sports Centre in Newcastle (5-1 & 3-1) with another impressive win, this time 3-0 with a double from Stuart Young and a header from Jamie Harnwell.

Perth Glory simply marked up man to man, they had too much pace for the Jets and won 80% of the 50-50 balls in the middle of the park in a frustrating night for the Jets, their fans and their coach Nick Theodorakopoulos who must be wondering what he got himself into as the Jets are still winless they have now gone 12 games without a win scretching back to the Pre season Cup.

The Jets went into the game with Nick Carle as Captain, Paul Okon and Joel Griffiths were suspended and Vaughan Coveny , Stuart Musialik and Jobe Wheelhouse all out injured.

Bobby Depotovski started his first game for Perth this season and was a welcome addition.

The Jets lined up with a 3-5-2 formation Steven Old replaced Paul Okon and Tarek Elich replaced Joel Griffiths and Adam D'Apuzzo replaced Stuart Musualik. The Glory lined up with a 4-4-2 formation Bobby Depotovski replaced Ante Kovacevic and Jason Petrovic replaced Aleks Vrteski in goal.

The game commenced with few chances, the first one fell to the Jets in the 7th minute a Milton Rodriguez pass found Mark Bridge but he failed to control the ball and the opportunity was wasted. Both teams tried to gain the advantage with Nick Carle and Simon Colosimo having a real battle in the middle of the park.

The 12th minute saw Leo Bertos chip the advancing Ben Kennedy but the shot fell short and wide with Paul Kohler clearing. Four minutes later saw a yellow card to Jamie Coyne for fouling young Ben Kennedy.

From the 25th minute Perth commenced to dominate the game their wide men Leo Bertos and Stan Lazaridis were finding space and the Jets were doing a lot of ball watching as Perth started to find their passes, Bobby Depotovski was finding acres of room and started to give his telling passes.

The 34th minute saw Nick Carle chase down a through ball, cut inside from the by line beat his defender but his fierce shot went straight at Jason Petkovic.

The first goal arrived the 44th minute when a Bobby Depotovski shot at the edge of the area was blocked by Paul Kohler, the ball fell to a unmarked Stuart Young who blasted the ball to the net, 1-0 Perth Glory. The first half ended with Nick Carle spinning past a defender and putting a lovely through ball for Mark Bridge who has a one on one with Jason Petkovic but shoots along the ground past the far upright.

The second half opens with a poor Tarek Elich pass to Stan Lazaridis who almost sets up Bobby Depotovski.The Jets are building up closely from the back but the Perth Glory side are going into tackles in numbers and time after time they rob the Jets of the ball.

The 63rd minute sees Stuart Young blast over the cross bar from in front of the goal and unmarked as Bobby Depotovski sets him up.

In the 70th minute a Nick Carle pass sees Milton Rodriguez guide past two defenders but his shot from outside the penalty area sail over the cross bar.

The 75th minute saw the turning point of the game, two great Jets chances come to nothing, a clever Milton Rodriguez pass seeing Tolgay Ozbey through on goal but at a angle he still manages to get a hard low shot in which is heading for the corner but Jason Petrovic gets a hand to it and the ball is cleared for a corner, from the resultant Matt Thompson corner it sails over everyones head and finds Jade North unmmarked at the far post but his rushed shot is mistimed and goes out.

The 80th minute sees a (unmarked) Leo Bertos shot deflected over the cross bar from the corner a Jamie Harnwell header is cleared off the goal line by Steve Eagleton. From the corner this time a Jamie Harnwell header (he out jumps Jade North) is good enough to beat Steve Eagleton on the line and its 2-0 Perth Glory.

With 5 minutes remaining and fans streaming out of the ground a Leo Bertos free kick from 25 meters out hits the upright and bounces away.

A Leo Bertos run in the 92nd minute has his cross met by Stuart Young who taps in for his second of the night, its 3-0 Perth Glory

Perth now join Adelaide in fourth position on the competition ladder with two wins and a draw, while the Jets remain winless this season and stay firmly rooted to the bottom of the table.