Newcastle Jets and a 10-man Perth Glory have played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Ausgrid Stadium on Saturday, neither side being able to celebrate the New Year with a convincing win as they shared the spoils.
Perth Glory did well to walk away with a point after being reduced to ten men away from home, goal scorer Billy Mehmet was shown a straight red card just 30 minutes into the contest after giving his side the lead.
Newcastle came out on top after the break with the numerical advantage, but couldn’t break down their opposition enough to get the goals they needed, and the three points.
Perth Glory took an early lead after Billy Mehmet got in front of his defender to convert a Travis Dodd cross after just 9 minutes.
The visitors continued to threaten the Jets defence during the opening exchanges and Mehmet almost doubled Perth Glory’s lead but missed the target with his header in front of goal.
Newcastle Jets looked to get themselves back in the contest and hit the wood work on 17 minutes after Taylor Regan sent in a shot at the back post following a corner.
There was a dramatic turn of events on the half hour mark when goal scorer Mehmet was shown a straight red card for his challenge on Tiago, and Perth Glory was reduced to ten men.
Former Novocastrian Travis Dodd was left as the lone striker for Perth Glory and it took some good defending from Taylor Regan on 52 minutes to prevent the speedy striker from adding to their lead after the restart.
Gary Van Egmond again looked to his bench for some inspiration and brought on Francis Jeffers early in the second half. It took the Englishmen just six minutes to find the back of the net after he headed home Kasey Wehrman’s cross in fine fashion.
Unfortunately for Jeffers and for the Newcastle Jets, he had to be replaced shortly after coming on and scoring the all important goal for the home side.
The Jets continued to dominate proceedings with the man advantage; they continued to press forward for the remainder of the match but could find the winning goal in front of another strong Newcastle crowd.
Newcastle Jets striker Michael Bridges said: "It would have been nice to finish off the year with a win at home; but credit to them they made it hard for us to break them down."
Newcastle will now go on to face Gold Coast United in desperate need for a win, while Perth Glory will host the Brisbane Roar.
Newcastle Jets 1 (Jeffers 61)
Perth Glory 1 (Mehmet 9)