JETS FINALLY WIN ONE
NEWCASTLE celebrated its first A-League win of the season, beating Western Sydney Wanderers 2-0 on a pitch coach Ernie Merrick likened to a carpark.
Before last night’s kick off, ground staff had to help clear Spotless Stadium playing surface of shards of plastic bottles and other debris.
A close-range 25th minute Jason Hoffman strike gave Newcastle the lead and Ronald Vargas confirmed the outcome, scoring from a slick counter-attack in added time at the end of the second half.
Wanderers created the most clear cut chances but could not find their way past veteran goalkeeper Glen Moss and a resilient Jets defence.
The big talking point, however, was the state of the ground. Wanderers players trained at the stadium on Thursday and reported no issues a day before the ground’s first A-League fixture of the season. However, the heavy winds that lashed Sydney over the past few days blew litter all over the ground.
“I’m not sure if you could call it a football pitch, it’s more like a carpark,” Merrick told Fox Sports after inspecting the ground before kick off and finding a screw.
The venue was used for a concert last Saturday and the pitch was inspected and cleared by the Wanderers and league officials on Tuesday.
Irrespective of debris, the pitch looked less than perfect with brown tinges in areas amid different shades of green.
Before Hoffman’s goal, Moss produced a super save to deny Abraham Majok and preserved the visitors lead by twice foiling Oriel Riera and stopping another Majok effort.
Bruce Kamau and Riera were off target with close range headers and the Jets defenders scrambled well to block a number of shots.
It was not all way one traffic, as Wanderers goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic pulled off a smart block to deny Hoffman in the first couple of minutes of the second half. He then foiled two shots in quick succession from Vargas, who eventually had the final say. AAP