A late goal from striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos has seen the Newcastle Jets snatch a point from Melbourne Victory in an enthralling 1-1 draw at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.
After a cagey start, the match sparked into life when Jets goalkeeper Ryan Scott was forced into some spectacular saves first to deny Ben Folami and then Nishan Velupillay.
Scott then pulled off another outstanding save to deny Victory captain Roderick Miranda as his header was tipped over the crossbar.
From the resulting corner the centre-back had his revenge when he found space at the near post to put his glancing header into the back of the net and make it 1-0.
The Jets had a chnace to equalise when in the 28th minute when a handball in the box by Damien Da Silva after a brief VAR check.
Apostolos Stamatelopoulos had his spot-kick saved by Melbourne goalkeeper Paul Izzo.
The Jets fans soon cheered however as the referee ruled the penalty to be taken again after Victory players were to have encroached the 18-yard box before the kick was taken.
From the resulting re-take, Izzo again spectactuarly saved Stamatelopoulos’ penalty to keep the score at 1-1.
The Jets started the second half with intent as Rob Stanton brought on Clayton Taylor, Thomas Aquilina and striker Archie Goodwin.
Goodwin found space in behind the Victory defence however his lob shot sailed over the crossbar. The Novocastrian was eventually flagged for offside.
Newcastle eventually found the elusive equaliser when some brilliant play down the left wing from Lucas Mauragis resulted in a perfectly timed cross for Apostolos Stamatelopoulos to head home past Izzo and make it 1-1 in the 88th minute.
The visitors almost broke the Jet’s hearts right at the death when substitute Chris Ikonomidis found space down the left to cut inside and see his shot smash the crossbar in the 93rd minute.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw which sees the Jets remain in 10th place on the Isuzu Ute A-League ladder.
The Jets now face a trip to Western Sydney to take on the Wanderers at Commbank Stadium on Sunday night.
