Newcastle United Jets struck in the dying seconds to clutch a draw against the Glory at Perth Oval. Jets’ captain Jade North used his minimal pace advantage over a sluggish Glory backline to ground a shot past keeper Frank Juric in the 95th minute.
Newcastle did its best to lose the match after twice giving up the lead – the second time resulting in the team falling behind in the 77th minute. But the scoreboard reflected the game-play at the end of the night, after both teams worked hard to try and take the three points.
The visitors kicked off on a chilly Perth night, but the breeze didn’t seem to fluster either team as both managed some dangerous attacks in the opening 10 minutes.
Glory coach, Dave Mitchell, wasted no time in putting his new acquisitions to the test with Brazilian Amaral, Ivory Coast import Eugene Dadi and Argentinean Adrian Trinidad all in the starting 11.
Dadi and Trinidad combined on several attacks early to shake the Newcastle defence but were unable to get the better of goalkeeper Ante Covic. After surviving an early header, Newcastle went on the offensive but stumbled at the penultimate stage when Joel Griffiths sprayed a strike to the right – missing everything.
There were positive signs for Perth Glory as they quickly established control of the game and looked for the opening goal. A cross by Trinidad saw an airborne Dadi attempt to bicycle-kick his way onto the score card but again, Jet’s keeper Covic was equal to the challenge, keeping the scores level.
Perth carried momentum and looked like scoring at any moment until Joel Griffiths was brought down just outside the box by Dino Djulbic.
In what was a controversial call (Griffiths looked to be fouled outside the ‘18-yard’ box but his momentum carried him inside), referee Craig Zetter pointed to the spot and in the 19th minute Newcastle United opened the scoring.
Griffiths sold Glory keeper Juric the dummy, sending him diving right before casually placing the ball in the bottom-left corner for a 0-1 lead. It may have been a questionable call but it was enough to breathe life into the reigning premiers.
It seemed a new tactic had been called by Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond – shut down Amaral. The Glory’s new ‘go-to’ midfielder seemed unable to find space. Perth did its best to hang on to a new-look Newcastle and in the 34th minute built a threatening attack out of Trinidad, Dadi and Pellegrino – a mistimed strike by Pellegrino was made to look good as it was diverted out of play for a Glory corner.
With a perfectly executed cross by Mark Lee, returning Olyroo Nikolai Topor-Stanley got a header but not before Trinidad was fouled by Adam Griffiths and for the second time, referee Zetter pointed to the spot.
Karma wielded its fist and the Argentinean Trinidad slotted the home-side’s first goal of the match to bring scores level at 1-1. The roaring crowd was almost forced to tears as Newcastle formed a quick attack on the restart and the Glory’s own Djulbic did his best to put the visitors back in front with a poor clearance that almost ended in an own-goal.
The rest of the half was played out with the momentum in Perth’s corner but attacks by Jin-Hyung Song and Tarek Elrich of the Jets made sure the home-side was awake.
A final shot by James Holland from the top of the 18-yard box was blocked by the Glory defenders to finish the first half 1-1. The second half opened with both teams looking sluggish.
The first offensive attempt was made by Song with a long right-to-left cross into the Glory box. Juric had his measure though and took the ball with a strong hold to the chest.
But it didn’t take long for Newcastle to regroup and in the 51st minute, Song took advantage of a J. Griffiths-struck ball that ricocheted off Glory captain Jamie Coyne.
Song connected with the airborne ball – bouncing it over a grounded Juric and the Jets retook the lead 1-2.
Worry struck again for the home-side when an over-zealous Coyne took down Edmundo Zura a short time later, giving the striker a dead-ball about 30ft from goal.
The Glory’s wall was impenetrable though and the strike floated harmlessly away.
Perth sensed the time to attack and quickly went on the offensive.
Trinidad edged his way toward the Newcastle net before placing the ball at the feet of fellow newcomer Amaral.
With his first cross of the game, Amaral made a perfect delivery to a waiting Dadi who saw the equaliser headed into the bottom left corner in the 56th minute.
The Jets were quick to respond with Joel Griffiths tearing down the centre of the pitch in search of his second goal.
But Glory keeper Juric made a well-timed advance on the attacker to minimise the angle and with a quick drop, kept the scores level at 2-2.
Newcastle faltered under the pressure of a Glory that found its attack and within five minutes the visitors had clocked up three yellow-cards. A. Griffiths, North and Zura were all recipients due to illegal contact.
Holland and Song again combined for the Jets but were unable to put a mark on the sheet, while Trinidad, Amaral and Pellegrino did the same for Perth before sending one over the woodwork in the 77th minute.
The breakthrough came in the 79th minute when youngster Nikita Rukavytsya subbed on for Mark Lee.
In what is now a trait of Rukavytsya, the 21-year-old gained position within minutes of coming on and streamed down the left wing to slip a ground-ball past Covic into the bottom-left corner, giving the Glory a lead of 3-2.
With four minutes of injury time, the question was whether the Perth Glory remembered how to win – and in the final seconds of the match Jade North answered that question for them.
The final score levelled at 3-3.
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