One mad moment sinks Victory

A BRAIN explosion from Mark Milligan has given Newcastle a boost back to the top of the A-League table as the Jets put four goals past 10man Melbourne Victory.

Last night’s combustible 4-1 contest burst the bubble of Victory’s short-lived positivity after their first win of the season in Perth last Sunday.

Victory started on the front foot and Kiwi Kosta Barbarouses marked his return from international duty with a fifth-minute screamer. So quick was the opener that debuting Glen Moss hadn’t even touched the ball for his new club before he was picking it out of his own net.

Ten minutes later Daniel Georgievski hammered home the equaliser with similar pizzazz, unleashing into the top corner. His effort was all the more surprising given the Jets were getting easily dispossessed while Victory played direct on the counter.

With the ledger level, Newcastle would benefit from two unfortunate incidents.

Injury-prone defender Rhys Williams limped off the pitch 20 minutes in and was subbed.

Georgievski shoved into Milligan, earning himself a yellow card. But as referee Stephen Lucas reached for his pocket the Socceroos utility retaliated, launching himself head first at his former teammate’ chest and was given his marching orders for his efforts.

It did not take long for the hosts to exploit their numerical advantage, with goals to Andrew Nabbout before half time, Joey Champness after 75 minutes and Nabbout again seven minutes later.