Newcastle Jets creep closer to top six with win over Melbourne Victory

A win over Melbourne Victory has the Jets creeping closer to top six on the A-League ladder.

Newcastle’s Dimitri Petratos celebrates after scoring the Jets’ second goal against Melbourne Victory at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday. Picture: AAP

If a lifetime in football has taught Newcastle Jets coach Ernie Merrick anything, it’s never to get carried away, because the game can smack you between the eyes when you least expect it.

That is probably why he rarely shows any emotion on the sideline, whether his team is playing like Barcelona and winning by one goal or five, or playing like Macclesfield Town and copping a pasting.

So when Merrick gets a twinkle in his eyes and suggests the other teams in the A-League should be looking over their shoulders as the Jets make a late surge for the finals, then you better start believing the wily Scot is clearly on to something.

It showed on Saturday night when Newcastle dealt a likely ­lethal blow to Melbourne Victory’s Premiers Plate hopes with a 2-0 win at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong. In the process, the Jets were able to strengthen their own prospects of figuring in the end of season finals.

Continuing their good run of recent form, last season’s beaten grand finalists have now won four of their past seven games and are unbeaten in their past five.

It means they have moved to within a point of sixth-placed Wellington Phoenix and four behind fifth-placed Melbourne City.

It has been an extraordinary turnaround for Merrick and his team because six weeks ago Newcastle’s season appeared to be dead and buried.

At that time, they struggled with injuries, a five-game winless streak that had them 11 points out of the top six and a looming Asian Champions League campaign that would test fitness and character.

But Merrick and Jets fans can now certainly see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“I think so,” Merrick was quick to reply when asked if he thinks the other clubs should be concerned about his side.

“We showed what we could do last season. We have struggled to have a settled team … (striker) Roy O’Donovan missed the first eight games (because of suspension), Jair was unfit, then copped an injury, we have lost a couple of players, then we had a tough run of games and then the ACL.

“But we have come good and come out the other end a lot stronger for it. We are a better team and I would say every club will be worried about us now.

“We haven’t lost in our last five games and you can see there is a lot of confidence and belief in the squad.”

The Jets had to overcome a slow start against Victory, the team that beat them in the season decider last year.

Merrick wasn’t happy with the opening 20 minutes and was forced to make some changes to the Jets formation after Victory exposed them a number of times down their right side.

“I tweaked a few things, moving a couple of players around in different positions and after that we played some good football and defended well,” he said.

In Victory’s case, a fourth game without a win doesn’t seem to faze coach Kevin Muscat, especially as his team prepares for their opening game of the ACL tomorrow night.

He said he could still take positives away from the effort of his players.

“I liked our approach and the urgency and intensity,” Muscat said.

“We had the ascendancy and the territory and we created the chances. There was one team that tried to take the game on and trying to win and another team playing not to lose.

“But we needed to score first and that didn’t happen.

“Their first goal gives them something to hold on to, they then defend and drop even deeper.”

Meanwhile, Merrick took the opportunity to hit out over the poor conditions his team had to put up with before the game.

“The tone was set when our bus was forced to drive around the stadium three times trying to find the entry into the ground,” he said.

“Then we get a change room that was no bigger than a cupboard … it was like Harry Potter’s room, tiny and with no airconditioning and we were crammed inside.

“Trying to get ready in a little, hole of a changing room, roasting and being cramped, is not good enough.

“It’s not Victory’s fault but you expect better.

“We have lodged a complaint with the match commissioner.”