Newcastle United 1-2 Adelaide United
Alice de Koster-Kitto 21/01/2025
Above: Melissa Taranto and Ilona Melegh. Photo: Adelaide United
Adelaide United have taken home the win, after defeating Newcastle United 2-1 at No.2 Sports Ground. The victory follows 90 minutes of end-to-end action, and uncertainty, and marks Adelaides first win in Newcastle in almost five years.
In early action, Adelaide United had two good chances within the first few minutes, both coming from a high press from Fiona Worts. A free taken by Paige Zois gave the visitors yet another early chance to open the scoring. Although Adelaide kept possession in their attacking end at the start, they couldn’t get through the Jets defence.
The Jets came close to the net following a corner in the 10th minute, that resulted in a scramble inside the box, however a goal was not to be found, despite momentarily seeming it was inevitably going over the line.
It seemed that Sophie Hoban had opened the scoring for the Jets with an excellent wide range shot on target, that looked as though it had gone in, inciting momentary celebrations from the home fans. The ball however was just wide, although it seemed to push the hosts to chase the openibng goal, as they began to put a real foot in the attacking end.
Emma Dundas had another close shot, that just bounced off the cross bar, putting Newcastle even further in favour of scoring the opener, as it appeared to be only a matter of time, until the hosts found a goal.
Despite early promise from Adelaide, the reds struggled to break through for the majority of the first half, as Newcastle dominated, holding the possession, creating continual chances, and capitalising on them with 6 shots within 25 minutes, while Adelaide had none.
Unavoidably, Newcastle Jets took the lead in the 26th minute with a power shot from captain Cass Davis, that flew through Adelaides defence, and could not have been halted by the hands of Ilona Melegh.
There was some response from Adelaide, as they seemed to regain the determination they had at the start, with a good chance from Condon, followed by a Paige Zois corner, that could have easily recreated her recent olympico against Melbourne Victory, if not hit away by Anna Leat.
A corner in the final minutes of the first half regulation gave the Jets a chance to extend their lead before the break, but despite efforts, the scoreline remained 1-0 at halftime.
Adelaide managed to take control of the ball again at the top of the second half. While they had no real chances, they held off the Jets’ attack, as Melegh had little to do for the first few minutes.
Newcastle was only held off for a few minutes, as they broke through to the attacking end with a promising attempt from Kelli Brown, which didn’t really amount to a chance, but got the Jets back in their attacking end. Brown got another huge opportunity just minutes after her attempted volley, striking in close range from the side of the box. The shot was ultimately saved by Melegh, but swung the game back in the hosts’ favour.
The 60th minute saw an equaliser from Erin Healy, who cleverly shot right through Tash Prior and Claudia Cicco, sending the ball straight to the net, with no real chance to be saved.
Healy got dangerously close to scoring a potential match-winner and netting herself a brace just minutes after her goal, with a strike from distance that was well saved by Leat, as it cleared the defence.
With the score remaining equal, and stoppage time running out, it became quite unclear how the game would go, as another goal seemed inevitable, but chances were fairly even at both ends. That was until Adelaide became the ones to capitalise, and break the stalemate, as Carina Rossi netted her first Ninja A-League goal.
With 15 minutes of regulation left, it seemed quite possible that the Jets would score an equaliser, and bring the final score to 2-2, while Adelaide could have just as easily extended their lead even further, as the end-to-end action continued.
Melina Ayres shot the ball into the back of the net following a run from Lauren Allan, which was called offside. The flag remained up, and the goal was not awarded, as the score remained the same in the final minutes of play.
The five minutes of added time were action-packed, with Newcastle desperately trying to find an equaliser in the nick of time. Both Malina Ayres and Lauren Allan got dangerously close to earning the Jets a goal, but all shots were saved by Melegh. Despite efforts, the hosts could not break through, and the Reds took home the points.
Newcastle Jets head into a 10-day break, as they have a bye week next round, while Adelaide will head over the ditch to take on Wellington Phoenix at Porirua Park over the weekend.
Teams: NEWCASTLE JETS (4-3-3): Leat, Karipidis, Prior, Cicco, Breier, Copus-Brown, Davis, Dundas, Hoban, Brown, Lancaster. Substitutes: Ritchie, Wilson, L.Allan, Ayres, J.Allan, Collins
Goals: Davis 27’
ADELAIDE UNITED (4-3-3): Melegh, Tolland, Tonkin, McNamara, E.Hodgson, Morgan, Condon, Zois, I.Hodgson, Worts, Dawder. Substitutes: A.Taranto, Makris, Jenkins, M.Taranto, Healy, Rossi
Goals: Healy 60’, Rossi 73’
Referee: Mikayla Ryan
Attendance: TBC
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