The Newcastle Jets have pulled off one of the upsets of the A-League season after defeating ladder leaders Melbourne Victory 1-0 at AAMI Park last night.
Both sides had their chances, but a rare error from Nick Ansell allowed Ecuadorian Edson Montano to score his long awaited fourth goal of the season to give the Jets just their third victory of the campaign. Melbourne pressed hard during the latter stages but a resilient Jets defence was able to hold on for the win. The unlikely result may relieve some of the pressure on Newcastle’s administration, while the loss for the Victory keeps them from sealing the A-League premiership.
Title race wide open
With news today that Perth Glory have been suspended from taking part in the finals series along with Melbourne’s shock loss, Sydney FC, Adelaide United and the Wellington Phoenix are all still well in the hunt for the Premier’s Plate. The two-time champions would have opened up a four point lead on their nearest rival Adelaide assuring they would have gone into Round 26 on top of the table. Now they are at risk of dropping to fifth position come the end of the round.
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Jets finally score
In the past three weeks Montano has had a goal incorrectly disallowed for offside, hit the post and missed at an open net. Tonight he hit home. Ansell failed to clear an Andrew Hoole cross and the lone striker was able to capitalise by quickly turning and shooting, beating Lawrence Thomas at his near post, scoring the team’s first goal in approximately 280 minutes.
It was just the seventh time Newcastle have scored in 2015, the first for Montano since December 30. The goal led to the Jets possibly knocking Melbourne off the top of the summit, depending on other results. It also marks the first occasion that the Hunter club has won back-to-back away games for the first time in over a year.
Victory have work to do before finals
We are only three weeks out from the finals so tonight’s performance is not something Kevin Muscat would like to see too much of. The Victory have surprisingly only recorded five wins against the teams currently in the top six and have produced sub-par performances against the lowly-ranked Central Coast Mariners and now the Newcastle Jets. They will have to look back at the footage and fix their flaws before a vital double header against the Brisbane Roar.
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What is next for both sides?
The boys from the Hunter restored some pride into a disappointing season with the 1-0 and will look to build on that when they return home to face Sydney FC next Friday in what will be the last home game for local boy Hoole. At the time of writing they are in ninth position with eighth place not yet out of reach.
For the Victory, they still have nine points and a minor premiership to play for. However, they have two games in four days away in Brisbane at a stadium they have only won since November 2009. Those two games could have major ramifications of the rest of the league and could decide whether the Victory find themselves automatically within one match of a Grand Final or in an elimination final come the first week of May.
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