Newcastle Jets 1-2 Sydney FC: Sydney keep alive their finals hopes

Photo: Newcastle Jets lost altitude after loss to Sydney FC [PlessPix]

Newcastle Jets 1-2 Sydney FC

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Sydney FC are still in contention for a finals berth after downing Newcastle Jets 2-1 away at EnergyAustralia Stadium this afternoon.

The win lifted Sydney off the foot of the A-League ladder and into 9th place, 9 points out of the top-six.

The Jets dropped to 8th place, 4 points ahead of Sydney and one point behind 7th-placed Wellington Phoenix.

Newcastle set the early pace and, in the 6th minute, a shot by Jobe Wheelhouse was turned against a post by Sydney keeper Liam Reddy.

But, the home side suffered a serious blow after just 14 minutes when Ljube Milicevic sustained an ankle injury and had to be replaced by Marcello Fiorentini.

Sydney gradually got into the game, however, and Ben Kennedy did well to deny Nicky Carle in the 35th minute after he had been put in by Hirofumi Moriyasu.

A minute later, Sydney did take the lead, Moriyasu side-footing home a corner from the left through a crowded goalmouth.

A minute into stoppage time, it was 2-0. Bruno Cazarine put Dimitri Petratos through and Kennedy could only clear the ball back to Cazarine, allowing the Brazilian to fire home.

Substitute Labinot Haliti pulled a goal back for Newcastle in the 66th minute, while in the 70th minute, the home side almost drew level, but Sasho Petrovski’s header from Haliti’s left-wing cross struck the crossbar.

Haliti was proving especially dangerous and, in the 74th minute, he slid the ball narrowly wide of the post after Ruben Zadkovich has cut the ball back from the right.

Try as they might, the Jets were unable to make up the leeway and slumped to their 12th loss in 15 games against Sydney FC.

Ryan Griffiths made his debut for Newcastle after his clearance from China came through early this morning.

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Newcastle Jets: Kennedy - Elrich, Milicevic (Fiorentini 14), Topor-Stanley, D’Apuzzo - Wheelhouse, Wehrman, Zadkovich - Jesic (Haliti 60), Griffiths (Petrovski 60), Abbas (Sub not used: Duncan)

Booked: Griffiths, Wehrman

Goals: Haliti 66

Sydney FC: Reddy - Sung-Hwan, Keller, Jurman, Jamieson - Musialik, Carle (Cole 71), McFlynn - Petratos, Cazarine (Makela 77), Moriyasu (Ryall 83) (Sub not used: Necevski)

Booked: Keller, Carle, Jamieson, Reddy

Goals: Moriyasu 36, Cazarine 90+1

Att: 12,118

Ref: M Gillett