Football Federation Australia (FFA) has today released the season draw for the 2009/10 National Youth League (NYL).

This season sees an even stronger competition with 27 Rounds and 2 new teams with the addition of Gold Coast United and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). The draw also includes weekly double headers with ‘big brother’ Hyundai A-League clubs. The season kicks-off on 11 September and continues throughout the festive season.

The opening round features four double headers, in Adelaide, Newcastle, Sydney and Perth.

FFA CEO, Ben Buckley, believes the NYL is an integral part of the Australian Football set-up.

“The establishment of the NYL into the Football Australia framework is a critical element of the evolution of football in this country.”

“Last year, the NYL, saw the development and growth of many talented young footballers resulting in a number of players taking the step up to the senior level,” said Buckley.

“This year, with the addition of two new teams including an AIS outfit, will see the standard and professionalism in Australia’s premier youth league developing further.”

In total, 22 players from NYL 2008/09 have earned professional contracts with Hyundai A-League clubs.

The extended nine team competition will end in a four team finals series and coincides with the final two weeks of the Hyundai A-League Finals Series.

The draw can be downloaded here.

Newcastle Jets Youth have played out a 2-2 draw against Broadmeadow Magic at Adamstown Oval last night. The match was the first for the Jets youth squad since the completion of their signings for the forthcoming season, while it was Broadmeadow’s final hit out before a crucial match against South Cardiff this weekend.

Born-and-bred local and current Qantas Next Young Socceroos starlet James Virgili heads the crop of youngsters to recently sign with the Hunter club.

Last season, Virgili became the youngest player to ever appear in the Hyundai A-League, making his debut against Wellington Phoenix in January when he was aged 16 years 180 days.

Scott Balderson, a former Qantas Young Socceroo and Stevenage Borough FC midfielder in the English Conference National division, and Mario Simic of Sydney United have also joined the Jets, while Mounties FC custodian Dion Shaw rounds out the goalkeepers in the squad.

“It’s good to have the bulk of the squad finalised now,” Jets’ NYL coach Craig Deans said this afternoon.

“The players have been training as a group for some time and we can now move onto playing a few trial matches before the season proper gets underway.

“We’ve compiled a strong squad for this season and we’ll be looking for each and every player to develop as the weeks roll on.”

He added: “We have the best local talent from Newcastle, as well as some outstanding young players from within the state, and that gives us a good mix for the season.

“We have selected a team of players who all have the potential to progress up to Hyundai A-League level and that is really what the National Youth League is all about in this stage of development,” said Deans.

Newcastle Jets Youth Team squad: Scott BALDERSON, Jon GRIFFITHS, Fabian IACOVELLI, Adrian KARAKOLEVSKI, Robbie KOLAK (gk), Mirjan PAVLOVIC, Jesse PINTO, Taylor REGAN, Jarrad ROSS, Dion SHAW (gk), Matt SIM, Mario SIMIC, James VIRGILI

The Newcastle Jets have defeated Melbourne Victory 1-0 in their National Youth League clash at Bob Jane Stadium on Saturday.

The opening minutes saw end to end play without any real threat to either goal. Nick Ward was prominent early for Victory gaining some early touches all over the park.

The Jets had an early opportunity to strike in the 10th minute after Fabio Di Lizia fouled Shaun Ontong on the edge the box. The resulting free kick was taken by Jesper Hakansson but it was met easily by Mitchell Langerak.

Melbourne had a golden opportunity to open the scoring in the 17th minute when a good through ball by Pantelidis put Ward in the box. With just Ben Kennedy to beat, Ward shot over the bar.

In the 19th minute only the brilliance of Mitchell Langerak came between the Jets and the lead. Matt Thompson’s pass found Jason Naidovski whose shot to the bottom right corner was palmed out by the diving Langerak.

Newcastle opened the scoring in the 27th minute. The Jets were awarded the free kick for handball only 10 metres outside the box. Matt Thompson’s curling free was saved by Langerak only for Marko Jesic to smash the rebound into the back of the net.

In the 41st minute Victory had another chance when Ward threaded a gap to pass to Nathan Elasi whose shot was blocked by Kennedy.

An eventful first half came to an end after one additional minute with the Jets leading 1-0.

Victory started the second half in the same manner as the first with attacking play. Leigh Broxham’s shot from outside the box in the 47th minute was taken by Kennedy diving low to his right.

Victory had a free kick in the 48th minute after a foul by Antun Kovacic resulted in him being the first player booked for the game. Nick Ward met the free with a glancing header, but it was well over the cross bar.

The end to end action continued with Langerak’s best efforts required to dive at full stretch and palm out Kovacic’s header in the 51st minute.

After an early flurry of goal scoring opportunities early in the second half, the free flowing play became somewhat halted with some tackles and rough challenges resulting in yellow cards to the Victory’s Leigh Broxham and Mifit Bojku.

The Jets had a chance to double their advantage in the 76th minute when Hakansson passed the ball to Patafta, who laid it off to Harper, running towards Langerak, but his shot was poor and didn’t force the Victory stopper into making a save.

In the 85th minute Ward chased down a seemingly lost ball before it went out of play to earn his team a corner. Di Lizia met the corner with an unchallenged header but it was over the cross bar.

In the 90th minute Victory pushed forward once again. Griffiths rushed to the ball but the bounce was unkind, leaving him to head it from outside the box. It went to Ward who centred to Elasi, whose shot was cleared off the line by a desperate Newcastle defence.

The Jets held off the late challenge from Victory to record only their second win of the season. The win keeps them in touch with the top four on 7 points, whilst Victory remain on the bottom with only one win from their eight matches.

Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic was pleased with his team’s performance, but disappointed with the result.

“We played quite well and had our chances,” he said.

“One mistake in defence was costly, we are a young side and made small mistakes.”

Durakovic was positive his side could bounce back and find some winning form.

“We will look at the mistakes made and try to rectify them,” he said.

“We are not doing a lot wrong, but it is a matter of simple mistakes costing us.”

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Newcastle Jets gradually dominated the Mariners after a slow start and knocked in four goals to sent the home side to the bottom of the table.

The first 10 minutes of the game was full of very tentative play with the Mariners shading the visitors, with the first chance of the game falling to Laurence Braude who received a ball played in after the Mariners won it with a solid challenge on the left. Braude shot through players in the area and it was on target until Jets keeper Jordan Griffiths saw it late and made an acrobatic save to his left.

In the 21st minute the Newcastle side drew first ‘blood’ in the derby when Jesse Pinto blasted a free kick from outside the area, off the wall and past a beaten Coast keeper Matthew Nash. 0-1

The Jets’s confidence grew through the half, and although Darko Vidovic had a great chance with a header right in the front but sent high and well over. In the 34th minute Adrian Krakolevski made it 0-2 when his show from range curled into the top left corner of the net with Nash slow to react. 0-2

In the second half the Mariners had some chances that were generally squandered, and their formation was disjointed.

The visitors finished stronger with Coast central defender Nathan Sherlock a contributor to both. Firstly substitute Virgil outran Sherlock and with Nash out but hesitent, Virgil rounded them both and slotted the ball home. 0-3

In the fourth and final goal Sherlock miss-hit his pass back to his keeper, so former Marconi Stallion Brodie Mooy pounced and slipped it inside the upright with Nash beaten. 0-4

Newcastle thoroughly deserved their win and moved off the bottom of the table to be replaced by the Mariners, who have a lot more work to do on their formation.

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