Sun 14th Jan 2007

In tough conditions the Newcastle Jets fought an amazing comeback to breathe new life into their finals campaign. Two injury time goals by Joel Griffiths earned the team a draw in a game that seemed lost to all but the truly faithful.

Intense heat at Members Equity stadium played its part in today’s proceedings and mid-half drink breaks were allowed to help the players cope with the conditions. The Jets traveled to Perth two days ahead of the game in to help them acclimatise.

Newcastle started with Tim Brown on the pitch in place of Stuart Musialik who was suspended after picking up a forth yellow card in last weeks game. Milton Rodriguez started again for the Jets in the three pronged strike force with Joel Griffiths and Mark Bridge at the expense of Vaughan Coveny, who was on the bench.

The Jets started well with fluent passing and surprised the home side with an early goal. On the twelfth minute mark Milton Rodriguez fed a ball to Mark Bridge who launched a stinging shot at the Perth goal. The Perth keeper Tommy Tomich blocked the ball but Nicky Carle won the race to the ball and was able to toe a shot under the charging keeper and into the net for a 1 – 0 lead to the Jets.

The Jets nearly doubled their lead a few minutes later when Carle fed a pass from midfield to Griffiths who found Rodriguez. Milton cut in field and shot off his left foot with only the keeper to beat. You could normally bank on Rodriguez hitting the target from such an opportunity but the shot was directed just wide to the right of goal with the keeper stranded.

The first half drinks break was taken and seemed to disrupt the flow of the Jets game. Passes weren’t sticking and it brought Perth right back into the game. Perth were creating numerous chances in front of the Jets goal and the pressure finally told in the 42nd minute when Perth were awarded a penalty for a handball by Jade North, his third such offense this season. A dangerous cross from the right received an unlucky deflection from the boot of Andrew Durante and North tried desperately to pull back his arm out of the way and chest the ball but the referee pointed to the spot.

Colosimo took the ensuing free kick and although Jets keeper Ante Covic picked the direction of the shot and got some glove on it he could not keep the ball out of the net.

Milton Rodriguez nearly cancelled out the penalty seconds later when he pounced on a poor clearance from the Perth goalkeeper but Tomich recovered in time to charge at Milton and block the ensuing strike, ensuring that the game went into half time even at 1-1.

The Jets got back into the game in the second half and both sides were creating chances in front of goal. A series of passes from Carle to Rodriguez to Bridge put him through the Perth defense but his shot didn’t have the venom it needed at was controlled by Tomich.

In the 60th minute, Milton Rodriguez took the ball wide on the left and hit a dangerous cross into the middle. Jade North flew high to meet the ball with his head but he directed it over the goal.

Perth had the next opportunity when Rukavytsya directed the ball across the face of the Jets goal from the left but a charging Jamie Harnwell, who once again played up front for Perth, could not get a foot to it.

The face of the game changed when Jets defender Steve Eagleton fell in a challenge from Bobby Despitovski and appeared to do some serious damage to his left knee. He was stretchered off the field and replaced by Steven Old.

In the 78th minute Old tripped in changing direction to intercept a cross and the ball was fed in to Josip Magdic who’s stinging shot hit the crossbar and rebounded into the path of Harnwell. Harnwell made no mistake and put Perth into the lead for the first time, much to the pleasure of the 7,904 Perth faithful who had come to see Bobby Despitovski’s last home game before his retirement.

2 minutes later it looked like Despitovski would surely be ending his home career on a winning note when Madgic hit a half volley off a Leo Bertos cross into the back of the Jets goal to give Glory a 3-1 lead.

But the Jets didn’t give up and showed steel in both attack and defense. Steven Old made a crucial tackle in the 84th minute to deny Jamie Harnwell another chance on goal and as the game drifted into injury time the Jets started to build their forward momentum. Joel Griffiths was looking dangerous as he tried to beat Glory's offside trap.

In the 91st minute Nicky Carle had a long range shot at goal and once again Tomich deflected the ball to a Jets player. This time Joel Griffiths was on hand to poach a goal back and steamed back to the half way line with the ball. Mark Bridge had a chance in the 93rd minute but directed the ball over the goal and it looked like the team would have to settle for the loss.

However, in the last play of the game, the never say die attitude paid off as North crossed a dangerous ball into the centre from the left which found Joel Griffiths who calmly directed the ball into the net with his thigh to get his second goal in as many minutes.

As Perth resumed play the final whistle blew and the match ended 3-3.

Whilst not the ideal scoreline, the draw leaves the Jets in 5th spot and one point behind Sydney FC and Queensland Roar who play each other in the last round of the Hyundai A-League. In the final round, two possible scenarios could put the Jets into the finals. The first is a outright victory against Melbourne Victory, which would see them through despite other results. The second scenario is to draw with Melbourne on Friday night and hope that Sydney FC beat Queensland in their match.

Either way, it is going to be an electrifying encounter next Friday night at EnergyAustralia Stadium and the team in going to need Newcastle their in force, cheering them to the death.

Perth 3 (Colosimo 43, Harnwell 76, Magdic 79)
Newcastle 3 (Carle 12, Griffith 91, 94)
Crowd: 7,904 @ Members Equity Stadium