A gutsy Newcastle Jets side has tonight gone down 2-0 away to Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium.

Injuries to four Jets players reduced the side to 10 men for the majority of the second half. The remaining players then worked hard but were simply worn down by a buoyant Adelaide outfit.

Twins, Adam and Joel Griffiths were forced off the field in the first half in a big blow for the visiting side, and early in the second half Jesper Hakansson and Jason Hoffman also succumbed to injury.

The first half began well for the home side, with lone striker Cristiano taking the first shot in anger in just the 1st minute of the game. His strike from 20 yards, however, was well saved by Jets’ custodian Ante Covic. That was to be perhaps the best chance for the Reds in the opening stanza as Newcastle had the better of the goalmouth action for the first 45 minutes.

In the 8th minute, Korean livewire Jin-Hyung Song worked hard to create an opportunity for youngster Jason Hoffman on the edge of the area. With a first time strike, Hoffman hit his left-footed shot on target but it was held well by goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic.

Song then had an opportunity himself after Hoffman chased down a seemingly lost cause, and some neat work by Joel Griffiths saw Song with the ball at his feet on 6 yards out from goal. Galekovic was in fine form though, and pulled out a wonderful reflex save to keep the scores level.

Two injuries within the first 10 minutes of the second half then left Newcastle a man short and Adelaide used the advantage to go on the attack.

The gallant Novocastrians had their hearts broken when Cristiano scored a rebound header from close range in the 72nd minute after substitute Alemao’s initial effort was parried onto the bar by Covic.

The Jets continued to toil and right-back Tarek Elrich stood tall on 2 occasions as he searched for the equaliser. Both times the lightning quick defender beat two markers before sending a blistering shot on target, only to be denied by wonderful saves by an impressive Galekovic.

As the 10-man Jets continued to look for an elusive goal, a mistake by Covic left Cristiano with an open goal to seal his brace and cap a wonderful week for Adelaide, who, on Wednesday night, booked their ticket to the Asian Champions League Semi-Finals.

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