Newcastle Jets registered their first win of the current A-League season when they downed the visiting Perth Glory 2-0 at home at EnergyAustralia Stadium last night.
The three points moved the Jets from second-last to seventh on the ladder, while the Glory dropped to third.
Newcastle dominated the match and Glory had very few real chances. Striker Robbie Fowler missed one good chance, but was substituted in the second half after taking a knock and falling heavily.
The crowd of 6,977 was disappointing, given the appeal by Jets coach Branco Culina earlier in the week for supporters to come to the game to bolster the ailing club.
Captain Michael Bridges put the Jets ahead in the 10th minute following a corner from the right by Kasey Wehrman. Nikolai Topor-Stanley failed to get a head to the ball, which came off team-mate Jeremy Brockie and fell for Bridges to volley home.
The Jets corners were proving dangerous and, despite obviously being aimed for Topor-Stanley each time, Perth were unable to counter the threat.
In the 13th minute, another corner found Topor-Stanley and his header was turned against a post by Glory keeper Tando Velaphi and then cleared in a mad scramble by the Glory defenders.
A minute later, Velaphi almost came unstuck with his positioning, but he managed to palm away Ruben Zadkovich’s powerful shot from wide on the right.
Glory finally managed a chance in the 21st minute when Mile Sterjovski crossed from the right and Fowler squeezed past Ljube Milicevic, but his tame shot was straight at goalkeeper Ben Kennedy.
Topor-Stanley had another chance from a corner in the 25th minute, but Velaphi produced a good save to deny the persistent Jets defender.
Chinese import Zhang Shuo fired wide of the right-hand post from the left for Newcastle after Brockie picked him out with a pass.
Velaphi produced another fine save in the 33rd minute, this time from Zadkovich.
The first half ended with bad miss from Fowler, who should have scored rather than place his shot wide of Kennedy’s left-hand post.
Newcastle almost went further ahead 6 minutes after the resumption when Brockie fed Zadkovich, but his shot hit the crossbar.
Two minutes later, Velaphi was at his best as he foiled Ali Abbas from a free-kick.
Glory were rarely able to build attacks, but when they did in the 69th minute, Steven McGarry fired straight at Jets keeper Ben Kennedy.
Velaphi was the stumbling block for Newcastle and the keeper again proved his worth in the 70th minute when he saved an effort from Brockie.
With a minute remaining, substitute Labinot Haliti made the game safe for the home side when he scored their second goal with a fine strike from the edge of the penalty area.
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