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13Aug20
Newcastle Hand Wellington Heaviest Loss Of Season
by Jeremy Ruane
Newcastle Jets handed Wellington Phoenix the latter's heaviest loss of the Hyundai A-League season at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on August 13, but the 3-0 scoreline was no reflection of a game which the Kiwi team could have had wrapped up inside the first fifteen minutes, had they taken their chances.
Ufuk Talay's charges were all over Newcastle like a tailor-made suit in the opening phase of the match, with the home team rarely able to cross the half-way line inside the opening ten minutes.
Callum McCowatt's twenty yard free-kick after just 106 seconds, awarded after Reno Piscopo's jinking run had been crudely curtailed, set the tone, fizzing just past the right-hand post of debutant goalkeeper Noah James.
The youngster made a fine save in the eighth minute to foil Callan Elliott after incisive passes by Matti Steinmann and Ulises Davila saw play switch from left flank to right in a matter of seconds.
Newcastle survived the resulting corner, but made a meal of the resulting goal-kick, with David Ball pouncing on a defensive blunder only to thrash his twenty-yarder over the top.
The Novocastrians finally strung a few passes together in the eleventh minute, culminating in Nick Fitzgerald evading a couple of challenges on the left before setting up Angus Thurgate, whose twenty yard drive sizzled narrowly past Stefan Marinovic's right-hand post.
Back came Wellington, Davila delivering a thirteenth minute corner to the far post which Ball headed back inside. Steinmann immediately headed the ball towards the target, only to see it strike the head of the all-at-sea figure of James and ricochet towards goal, where Nigel Boogaard was perfectly placed to head it off the line.
James knew nothing about that particular incident, but it was a portent of things to come for the home side, who rode their luck on a number of other occasions in this contest.
Sixty seconds later, McCowatt won the race for the ball to the by-line, from where he played the ball back to Davila. His shot was blocked, but he chipped the ball across to Ball, who directed an overhead kick over the bar from six yards.
On the quarter hour, Elliot and Davila teamed up with Piscopo, whose jinking run culminated in a fifteen yard drive being deflected over the bar with James a beaten man had his defender not intervened.
Newcastle enjoyed a decent spell of possession after this close call, and in the 21st minute Steven Ugarkovic sent a thirty yarder careering past the post to signal his side's intentions in no uncertain terms - they wanted to conclude their campaign on a high.
Wellington saw penalty claims rightly waved away by referee Alireza Faghani in the 26th minute as Nikolai Topor-Stanley's well-timed tackle thwarted Elliot in the area, while the offside flag cut short Ball's celebrations two minutes later, the striker's delight in having seemingly broken the deadlock swiftly replaced with a grimace.
Another defensive blunder let in Ball for a one-on-one chance on the half-hour, but nineteen-year-old James stood his ground well to foil the striker, who looked on as Newcastle mounted the next attack, a 34th minute raid which saw Dimi Petratos just fail to get on the end of Thurgate's delivery at the sharp end of a slick move.
Seconds later, Liberato Cacace - he had another great game - worked an opening for Davila through the inside left channel, from where he rolled the ball across the goal area with the target yawning invitingly. No one in yellow was incoming in support, however - a great chance spurned.
More were to follow, but at the other end of the park inside the next three minutes. Petratos' corner picked out Jason Hoffman, whose eight yard header flashed inches over the bar, seconds before a Petratos drive took a deflection off Cacace, allowing Marinovic to smother the shot.
On the stroke of half-time, Newcastle opened the scoring, against the general run of play, it must be said. When they're in possession, however, they're a very difficult side to get the ball off, and this particular 22-pass move culminated in Ugarkovic linking with Thurgate, whose driving run through the middle resulted in a pass to Fitzgerald. The resulting shot took a deflection past Marinovic - 1-0 Newcastle.
Buoyed by the goal, in particular its timing, the home team took charge of the early stages of the
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second spell and went desperately close to doubling their lead in the 48th minute, Marinovic making a superb flying save to his left to keep out Petratos' deflected twenty-five yard missile.
The resulting corner saw Cacace gift possession to Topor-Stanley, who sent a twenty-yard snapshot slithering past the post seconds before Petratos chanced his arm once more - Marinovic was right behind this attempt on goal.
Abdiel Arroyo was inches away from making contact with Connor O'Toole's teasing cross as Newcastle pressed again, to which Wellington responded with a 53rd minute volleyed attempt by McCowatt, after Steven Taylor had headed Piscopo's free-kick down for the youngster to let rip in the 53rd minute.
Further Wellington pressure followed, Cacace leading the charge down the left, with the fullback's fine run culminating in a low cross which O'Toole cleared. Seconds later, Topor-Stanley's sliced clearance put James under unwelcome additional pressure, but the youngster handled it well, as he did an attempt by the offside figure of Taylor in the 62nd minute, the defender being picked out by Ball's measured cross.
Newcastle's ability to sweep downfield on the counter-attack was never better encapsulated than in the 64th minute. Fitzgerald led the charge on the right, with Hoffman steaming up outside him in support.
All the while, Thurgate was making a storming run through the middle, having started it on the edge of his penalty area. When Fitzgerald fed Hoffman, the fullback's first time cross found Thurgate arriving on the edge of Wellington's penalty area, from where he unleashed a first-time drive which cannoned back into play off the base of the post - a move which deserved better fate.
After McCowatt had been denied by Thurgate's vital block after fine work by Elliot on the right, Cacace weaved his way through six challenges in the 73rd minute, only to be thwarted by Topor-Stanley's desperate lunge.
The defender diverted the ball back to James, who was forced to turn it round the post as Cacace, still full of running, came hurtling in, looking to turn the ball home for what would have been a deserved equaliser.
There was to be no equaliser for Wellington, however, as Newcastle doubled their lead in style in the 76th minute. Thurgate was involved again - he had a monster of a game - and this time he brought substitute Bernie Ibini-Isei into play. The striker took the ball on before unleashing a twenty-five yard screamer which sizzled past Marinovic into the back of the net.
Back came Wellington, who were up in arms two minutes later when denied an absolute stone-wall penalty as O'Toole felled Elliot from behind in the area. While the visitors tore strips off referee Faghani - with justification, Newcastle counter-attacked, O'Toole and Ibini-Isei working a one-two before the fullback fired a cross into the heart of the penalty area.
In their eagerness to clear it, Cacace and half-time substitute Alex Rufer got in each other's way, presenting Petratos with the ball. The striker shielded it from Marinovic before back-heeling the sphere into the stride of Hoffman, who hammered the ball home off the underside of the crossbar in the 79th minute - 3-0.
The game was up for Wellington at this point, and the home team could have added more goals before the final whistle. Ibini-Isei - again supplied by Thurgate - sent a twenty yarder careering inches over the bar in the 84th minute, before Cacace's timely intervention foiled substitute Kosta Petratos, after fellow replacements Ibini-Isei and Roy O'Donovan had combined to good effect.
Wellington now await the results of Western United's last two fixtures to determine whether they finish in third or fourth spot this season. Regardless, they are play-offs-bound, with their next fixture - against either Western, Brisbane Roar or Perth Glory - set down for the penultimate weekend in August.
Newcastle: James; Hoffman, Koutroumbis (booked, 57), Boogaard (booked, 22), Topor-Stanley (booked, 42), O'Toole (Mauragis, 86); Fitzgerald (Ibini-Isei, 67), Ugarkovic, Thurgate (Kantarovski, 86); D. Petratos (K. Petratos, 80), Arroyo (O'Donovan, 67)
Wellington: Marinovic; Elliot (Scott, 81), Taylor, De Vere (booked, 8), Cacace; McCowatt, Devlin, Steinmann (Rufer, 46), Piscopo; Ball (Waine, 85), Davila (Sotirio, 67)
Referee: Alireza Faghani
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