Adelaide United 2-2 Newcastle Jets
by Ryan Miller-Woods (17/3/23)
Above: Dylan Holmes on the charge for Adelaide United. Photo: Keep Up.
Adelaide United came from two goals down to claim a point at the death against Newcastle Jets in an enthralling encounter at Coopers Stadium.
It didn’t take long for the first goalscoring opportunity. After just two minutes, Fiona Worts was fed by Zoe Tolland and turned two Newcastle defenders and shot, albeit too high. Emily Hodgson gave Worts a second opportunity eight minutes later but the shot was saved by Newcastle goalkeeper Claire Coelho.
However, it was Newcastle that found the breakthrough in the 18th minute, thanks to a well-thought-out sequence of play where Murphy Agnew then crossed the ball for Lucy Johnson to slot home becoming the first Tasmanian to score in the A-League Women in the process.
Adelaide’s profligacy continued when Worts was brought down in the box by Coelho made contact with her in the box with a high leg leading to referee Georgia Ghirardello awarding a penalty in 20th minute and showing the Jets keeper a yellow card for the foul. Maruschka Waldus stepped up and hit a shot towards the bottom left corner, Coelho went the right way to deny the South Australians.
Newcastle punished Adelaide for that miss and doubled their advantage less than 10 minutes later. Emily Garnier’s through ball found Lauren Allan who outpaced the Adelaide defence to shoot beyond Annalee Grove.
In the last minute of stoppage time for the first half, Nanako Sasaki from an Adelaide free kick provided a great cross into the box that found Jenna McCormick at the near post whose header at goal was prevented with another great save by Coelho.
Whilst Jets maintained their two-goal cushion at the break, it took just seven minutes of the second period for Adelaide to get back into the match. Returning Young Matilda Emilia Murray’s cross was aimed for Worts, but instead found the path of scholarship player Katie Bowler whose first-time shot beat Coelho.
Murray proved to be a thorn in the side of Newcastle and she created again shortly afterwards dribbling and cutting in before unleashing a shot that went wide of the goal.
Worts was denied yet again with just over 15 minutes remaining after being played in by Murray but Coehlo saved and then saw the shot come back off the post.
Finally, the home side found their equaliser with two minutes remaining. New arrival from NPLW SA club Adelaide Comets, Chrissy Panagaris, crossed for Murray to hit a first-time shot past Coelho into the bottom right corner. It was reward for the youngster’s superb efforts.
It was heartbreaking for Newcastle Jets who know they could find themselves bottom if the table should Wellington Phoenix defeat Perth Glory tomorrow.
Teams: ADELAIDE UNITED (4-3-3): Grove, E. Hodgson, McCormick, Waldus, Tolland, Sasaki, Westland, Holmes, Barbieri, Bowler, Worts. Substitutes: Farrow, Hawyard, I. Hodgson, Murray, Panagaris.
Scorers: Bowler 52’. Murray 88’.
NEWCASTLE JETS (4-3-3): Coelho, Clough, King, Garnier, Walandouw, Davis, Agnew, Johnson, L. Allan, Stapleford, Brodigan. Substitutes: Worth, Roach, J. Allan, Puxty. Allen.
Scorers: Johnson 19’, L. Allan 29’.
Referee: Georgia Ghirardello.
Attendance: 2,992.
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