The Mariners have defeated the Jets 2-1 in a entertaining derby match at Energy Australia Stadium – the late finishing Mariners had too much for the Jets in the second half.

Who would have believed the two teams fought out the Grand Final in February earlier this year when looking at the competition table -, the Mariners briefly went to top spot and the Jets dead last (their hopes of a top four spot over). Both these teams will however complete in the lucrative Asian Football Confederation Champions League from March.

The Jets start on fire Matt Thomson finds Joel Griffiths on the edge of the penalty area and Joel unleashes a curling shot which is centimetres wide of the upright.

On eight minutes a D’Apuzzo throw-in finds Jesic in the penalty area, he is dragged down by Gumprecht, referee Peter O’Leary points to the spot, it’s a penalty which sends the home fans into applause. Joel Griffiths sets up and then sends the ball high into the top right corner of the net, its 1-0 Jets.

On just 17 minutes young Marko Jesic limps off with what looks like a serious knee injury, he is replaced by Wheelhouse.

On 26 minutes Thomson blocks Boljic clearance and races away on goal, his fierce shot is blocked by the advancing Vukovic, the ball rebounds to Griffiths but his follow up shot is also blocked by Vukovic.

The Mariners finally look threatening, a great cross by MaCallister on the half hour finds Petrovski who heads over from point blank range.

The first half ends with a great Song through ball that has Wheelhouse in the clear but from a angle his shot is straight at Vukovic as the half time whistle goes. Its been a exciting first half

The second half commences with a Joel Griffiths pass for Song but Heffernan intercepts.

On 54 minutes Hutchinson finds Petrovski on the edge of the penalty area, but Sasho blazes wide of the upright.

The Jets try to go two up on 58 minutes Wheelhouse finds Joel Griffiths, he lets go with a thunder bolt but its straight at Vukovic. Moments later Song and Joel Griffiths combine, Song crosses for Joel, his header forces a diving save from Vukovic.

On 66 minutes Heffernan reaches the by line, whips in a cross for Petrovski who gets in front of his defender and heads past Covic at the near post, its 1-1 and the travelling fans celebrate.

It becomes real end to end stuff as both teams search for a winner, the Mariners aiming to go top and the Jets aiming to keep their season alive, but the game is settled in a 60 second spell with just 11 minutes to go, Joel Griffiths back heels for Song who has time at the edge of the penalty area to place a shot, he fires away, sadly for the home fans the ball goes just over the cross bar.

The Mariners respond instantly – a quickly taken Petrovski free kick finds Simon, and he is able to fend off two Jets defenders to then fire past the advancing Covic. It’s 2-1 Mariners.

The final minutes has the Jets going forward in numbers but they are unable to break through as often the final pass is astray and the Mariners cleverly bring the ball forward and are able to waste valuable time.

The final whistle sees some pushing and shoving and Macallister is given a red card by Referee Peter O’Leary. It ends 2-1 Mariners.

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Queensland Roar huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow down the Newcastle United Jets goal, and as he always does, Joel Griffiths somehow found the winner at Suncorp Stadium tonight.

The Round 5 Hyundai A-League clash promised plenty with the visit of Queensland’s bogey team, the champions, but the game didn’t really deliver until the visitors’ 82nd minute winner.

Queensland Roar had the better of a scrappy first half. Both coaches would have seen plenty to talk to their teams about at half time. Queensland started without much cohesion and grew into their game during the half. Newcastle started cautiously and conservatively and were gradually bustled off the ball.

Queensland’s modus operandi is always to play an up-tempo game in front of their impatient home supporters, and try to defend from the front. The micro midfield of McKay, Murdocca and Tiatto had plenty of bite in the tackles, as usual, and Newcastle seemed to lose heart and composure as the half wore on. But with nothing to show for it, Newcastle were still well in the hunt for at least an away point.

The Newcastle strike force has been self-critical in recent weeks, with no goals in their last two games. But supply to the forwards was in short supply, with little time and space in midfield. Joel Griffiths was dropping deep to receive the ball, often creating congestion in the midfield.

Newcastle looked most dangerous when Jin-Hyung Song had the ball at his feet in wide positions, and looked to link up with Griffiths or Holland. But few chances came Newcastle’s way. Their best opportunity was very early, in the 7th minute, when James Holland’s dribble penetrated into the penalty box, but his attempted cutback cross was picked off by the Queensland defenders.

Queensland, on the other hand, just couldn’t get started until about the 20th minute. McKay and Miller couldn’t find any targets forward, and there was precious little width to Queensland’s attack. Their only early chance came from pressure, as McKay chased through a back pass that Daniel Piorkowski had left short. McKay and Covic converged on the ball and though McKay was first in, he couldn’t sneak it pass the big fella who got down quickly to make the save.

Four minutes later was Queensland’s best chance of the half, when Van Dyk and Murdocca combined to set Massimo free down the right. Van Dyk hustled into the box and was rewarded by getting a good header on the Murdocca cross. It brought an even better save from Ante Covic, saving his side for a second time.

The better chances continued to go Queensland’s way. In the 33rd minute, Mcatt McKay cut in from the right touchline onto his left foot, and floated in a cross that eluded Newcastle’s defenders and came to Sergio Van Dyk at the far post. Van Dyk took one touch to control, but then blasted his half volley way over, admittedly from a tight angle.

After the break, Queensland still looked the most likely to break the deadlock. It was only the 46th minute when McKay set off on a teasing run, threatening to slide the pass to Murdocca, but then flicking the ball to the far post, where an air-borne Charlie Miller launched himself at the header. Covic did well to palm the ball away.

With the game still deadlocked, Farina brought on his young guns, Michael Zullo and Tahj Minniecon, for Reinaldo and Danny Tiatto.

Within seconds, Zullo had a low shot that brought a good save from Covic, and Minniecon had a penalty shout denied. The crowd were in the game more than ever. Edmundo Zura was brought on for Newcastle as both sides pressed for the win.

In the 72 minute, Tahj Minniecon surged forward at high speed with the ball at his feet, committing the Newcatle defenders. A defender lunged forward, Minniecon went down, the ball ran free, but referee Craig Zetter was absolutely unmoved.

In the 77 minute, Massimo Murdocca looked up and slid a beautifully angled ball through for Charlie Miller, who seemed certain to score, but just didn’t quite find the right angle for his shot, and once again covic picked him off.

The gamebreaker was coming. But who or what would it be?

Newcastle were still dangerous on the break with fresh legs in the shape of Zura and the always hard working Joel Griffiths. Queensland had the weight of possession, the inventiveness of Miller and the speed of Zullo and Minniecon.

In the 82nd minute, Newcastle pressure lead to a corner on the left. Reddy came for it and missed, and in the subsequent goalmouth scramble, Joel Griffith was quickest to react and he scuffed the ball into the goal off the bottom of his boot. 1-0.

12,103 fans roared their disapproval at everything after that … every whistle, every pass, but they couldn’t get their home team to equalise.

A colleague sent me a text with a couple of minutes to go: “So sick of this: every <’expletive deleted’> game the same story.” I couldn’t disagree, and a post-match interview with Roar skipper Craig Moore told a similar story of his anger and frustration at the performance his team put forward on a night when national coach Pim Verbeek came along to watch.

So Newcastle continue their hold over Queensland, through the excellence of Ante Covic in goal, the inability of Queensland to finish clinically, and the incredible ability of Joel Griffiths to always find a winner against the Roar.

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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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The opening game of the A-League Season V4 the F3 derby has ended 1-1 as a last minute Joel Griffiths penalty gave the home side a share of the points after Matt Simon appeared to have won the game for the Mariners having headed them into the lead with just three minutes to go.

The Jets lined up with new marquee signing Edmundo Zura obtaining his clearance only a few hours before the match and 16-year-old Ben Kantarovski lining up in defence.

The Mariners new signing included defender Predrag Bojic, David D’Apuzzo, and attackers Ahmad Elrich and Adrian Caceres

The first half has the defences of both teams on top with the final pass in the attacking third continually being cut out, the highlights are quite limited.

It’s the 18th min and Song puts Zura away for the first piece of real action but he is called up for off side.

The Jets passing is looking good and its Song again looking dangerous as he is surrounded by Mariners but is still able to test Vukovic with a low shot.

The first half ends with a long range Caceres shot that tests Covic but doesn’t trouble the score board.

The second half commences with a higher intensity, Song’s cross is headed by Bojic who gets in front of Adam Griffiths but the ball goes to Zura on the far post and his header is just wide.

On 54 minutes it’s the Mariners who should take the lead, a Jets build up around the penalty area breaks down, Ahmad Elrich finds Caceres who sprints to the edge of the Jets penalty area, his cross however is not accurate and Covic intercepts in front of Petrovski.

Two minutes later Petrovski beats Adam Griffiths in the penalty area by lifting the ball over his head and regathering he crosses for Hutchinson and in what may already be the ‘miss of the season’ Hutchinson gets a foot o the ball from point blank range but the ball hits Covic and the Mariners again fail to go in front.

Zura responds for the Jets he finds Griffiths who in turn finds Elrich who fails to tap in from close range.

On 72 minutes Song pulls in a cross that finds Thompson, his shot is deflected off Clark and hits the upright before bouncing away.

It seems to become a goal less game but the match however has a dramatic ending, with three minutes to go Ahmad Elrich’s cross is headed away by his brother only to find Bojic who heads on to Simon who heads in from point blank range its 1-0 Mariners.

There is a further twist, Tarek Elrich in the final minute was fouled by Porter in the penalty area, Referee Breeze pointed to the spot and the home fans go into raptures, Joel Griffiths stepped up and as per last season – he scored – it ends 1-1.

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A-League player of the year Joel Griffiths will be a stunning omission when Australia coach Pim Verbeek names a locally based squad to play Singapore in a friendly on Saturday week.

It is understood the outspoken Newcastle Jets striker is paying the price for comments he made after Australia’s 3-0 win over Qatar in a World Cup qualifier in Melbourne on February 6.

In a decision which again highlights his disdain for the standard of the local competition, Verbeek has opted to call in the bulk of the Olyroos (under-23) squad plus four or five over-age players to make up the numbers in an 18-man squad.

Goalkeeper Ante Covic, defenders Jade North and Adam Griffiths (all from Newcastle) and striker Archie Thompson (Melbourne) are understood to be the only senior players from the national competition included for the match, which is a lead-up to the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against China on March 26.

Exciting Queensland youngster Michael Zullo will cap a meteoric rise with his inclusion in the squad, which means he has won Olyroos and Socceroos selection in just his first season of senior football in the A-League.

Incredibly, however, there is no room for the gifted Griffiths, who was clearly the standout player of the season.

Griffiths is presently playing on loan with Japanese J-2 club Avispa Fukuoka. He received an overwhelming 394 votes, 140 more than nearest rival Alex Brosque (Sydney FC) and a whopping 237 ahead of third-placed Shane Smeltz (Wellington Phoenix) when the award, voted on by his peers, was announced on February 27.

The striker, who also won the Golden Boot as the competition’s leading goalscorer with 12 goals, was part of the national squad for the World Cup qualifier against Qatar, but had to withdraw several days before the game because of injury.

The official line regarding Griffiths’s axing is that Verbeek is “looking to the future” and believes Zullo and his Olyroos team-mates represent better value at this stage.

It seems a strange decision given that Griffiths is only 28 and seemingly in the prime of his football career.

Speaking with his usual frankness, Griffiths declared several days after the win over Qatar: “A State League team could have beaten Qatar. I didn’t think they were too good.

“This is an Australian team that had no preparation, one training session, jet-lagged and they could have won by six goals at half-time.”

The comment apparently upset the outspoken Verbeek, whose open disregard for the standard of the national competition has raised many eyebrows.

The national coach says the game against Singapore will be invaluable experience for locally based players as well as providing good cover for the main squad for the qualifier against China at altitude in Kunming.

As he did against Qatar, Verbeek will go with a totally overseas-based squad against China, despite the fact the bulk of the players will only arrive on the Monday or Tuesday before the match.

“This match will give valuable experience to the A-League players and will be another important part of our program to keep them fit during the off season,” Verbeek said last week.

“Once the match is over I will then decide who will make the final squad for the trip to China.

“We want to play as many matches as we can against teams from Asia and, with Singapore also in the process of attempting to qualify for the World Cup, it is a perfect opponent for us,” he said.

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HE knows he is the luckiest player in the league and Newcastle Jets striker Joel Griffiths admitted his relief after winning the Johnny Warren Medal despite his altercation with an assistant referee this season.

In the week Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic was banned for nine months for laying a hand on a referee, Griffiths was voted the A-League’s player of the year and said he felt for Vukovic after his own escape on a technicality.

Griffiths was only booked for flicking a hand at an assistant referee, a caution that meant he couldn’t be punished further, and admitted he was still driven by the memory of it.

“It was a wake-up call for myself at that time and I do regret what I did,” Griffiths said after the awards lunch. “It was embarrassing for me, my family and everyone who knows me. I was just glad to move on and have the season I did.

“I do (feel for Vukovic) – he’s a good lad. Things happen in football games that you sometimes can’t control and I think that’s what happened with Danny.

It’s up to FIFA (whether the ban is extended to international games) and hopefully for Danny’s sake he’ll be able to play in the Olympics as he’s a great talent.”

Griffiths, whose 12 goals in the home-and-away series were a record, follows Nicky Carle and Bobby Despotovski in winning the coveted award.

It is the ultimate reward for resurrecting his career with the Jets after enduring a confidence-destroying spell at English club Leeds United – as well as his dozen goals in the regular season and two more in the finals, he also claimed four assists.

“This is the icing on the cake,” he said. “The grand final is the goal we strive for at the start of the year but the Johnny Warren Medal tops it off and is the perfect end to the season.”

Griffiths also issued a plea for the title-winning squad to be kept together in the midst of contract negotiations that have set several key men against owner Con Constantine.

“It would be a shame if we didn’t stay together. We lost so many players last season and the ones who came through really stood up. If we were to lose those players for a couple of thousand here and there, then I’ll be very disappointed because we’ve got a great nucleus.

“Melbourne (last year’s champions) lost a few players and they struggled a bit – it’s really hard on those who do stay for a long time. You see good friends come and go but we’ll see what happens.”

The Jets’ triumphant season was further recognised by the award of coach of the year to Gary van Egmond after he guided the club to a grand final victory despite myriad off-field distractions and the loss of key players.

After more than matching the stunning resurrection he oversaw at the Jets when he took over a third of the way into season two, van Egmond took the coach’s honour previously won by Lawrie McKinna and Ernie Merrick.

But afterwards he was quick to deflect attention on to his players, even as he battles to keep the team together.

“You pick up awards but for it to be your peers that vote makes it a bigger honour,” he said.

“It’s been a phenomenal year for the Jets, something we’ve worked hard to achieve, but there’s a lot of people behind the scenes from (assistant) Mark Jones right down to the kit man.

“They want to be the best they can at their individual jobs and it shows. We’ll enjoy this and then get ready for next year.”

Proving that nice guys can finish first, the Jets also took the fair play award for the least disciplinary points accrued.

The rising star award went to Adelaide’s Bruce Djite and goalkeeper of the year to Michael Theoklitos of Melbourne Victory.

Ironically, given the controversy surrounding the non-penalty in Sunday’s grand final, Mark Shield received referee of the year.

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