A double from Trent Buhagiar has seen Rob Stanton collect his first win in at home as Newcastle Jets Head Coach.
Apostolos Stamatelopoulos captained the club for the first time in the absence of Brandon O’Neill who was on the bench today after missing most of the week due to a lung infection.
The Jets started the match brightly and found the opening goal of the match when Dane Ingham fired in a cross which was met perfectly by Trent Buhagiar to head past Western United goalkeeper Tom Hewerd-Belle to put the Jets 1-0 up in the first eight minutes.
Buhagiar almost made 2-0 on the 16th minute mark when a quick throw in played Buhagiar in one-on-one, only for the Jets striker to be denied by Heward-Belle with a quick instinctive save.
The Jets striker made no mistake when he started a counter attack on inside the defensive half to run through and cooly tuck his shot away and make it 2-0.
Clayton Taylor was the next to threaten Western’s goal when a perfectly timed volley was tipped onto the crossbar by Heward-Belle to keep it at 2-0 heading into the break.
The Jets continued the pressure at the start of the second half when a shot from halfway by Mauragis turned into a smart through ball for Stamatelopoulos who had his shot saved for a corner.
Western United had a rare chance to score from a free-kick when Daniel Penha forced a smart save from Jets goalkeeper Ryan Scott at his near post.
The Jets were reduced to 10 men just short of the hour mark when Stamatelopoulos received his second yellow card for a challenge on United defender Kane Vidmar.
The numerical disadvantage didn’t stop the Jets from pursuing a third with Thomas Aquilina and Archie Goodwin both having good chances to extend the lead.
The Jets defence held firm as the side collected its first win at home under Head Coach Rob Stanton.
