Newcastle Jets prolong Melbourne Victory’s pain

Melbourne Victory’s dismal start to the season has continued with a disappointing 1-0 defeat to the Newcastle Jets.

Melbourne Victory’s Birkan Kirdar controls the ball against the Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park. Picture: Getty Images

Melbourne Victory’s dismal start to the season has continued with a disappointing 1-0 defeat to the Newcastle Jets.

Angus Thurgate’s second-half strike was the difference condemning Victory to a third straight defeat on a gloomy Sunday afternoon at AAMI Park – heaping the pressure on Victory coach Grant Brebner.

An uninspiring opening half was highlighted by a strong challenge from Storm Roux whose studs caught the chin of Connor O’Toole.

Roux, perhaps surprisingly, only copped a yellow card but came off second-best after landing awkwardly on his neck which forced him off moments later.

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Returning Victory winger, Callum McManaman came closest after the break with his long-range effort was parried brilliantly onto the post by Jets keeper Jack Duncan.

The Jets finally tested Max Crocombe with Roy O’Donovan and in-form striker Valentino Yuel forcing a tremendous double-save from the Victory custodian.

However, the Jets had their moment only minutes later as Yuel’s pass teed up Thurgate who rocketed the ball home on 72 minutes.

Melbourne Victory are in a deep chasm. A third straight defeat has them rooted to the bottom of the ladder and the football they have produced so far this season has been less than inspiring.

For Victory fans, this is an unfamiliar feeling for those who are used to their side being among the competition’s best but after last season’s disappointment – the response is still yet to come and the fans let the team know about it with a chorus of booing after the final whistle.

After only one win from their opening seven games, the pressure is building to turn around their stuttering form during an important stretch of home games.

Brebner described the Victory’s stretch of five home games which began last night as “season defining” in the lead-up and said he won’t shy away from the ensuing challenge.

“We understand exactly where we are at,” Brebner said.

“I understand the magnitude of where we are positionally in the league and understand what we went through in the last seven games,

“We have got a big job ahead of us, I have a big job and we need to turn it around. There’s no other way to put it.”

Brebner went on to say the team are feeling the disappointment of losing another contest in a game they were expected to bounce back.

“There’s a lot of disappointment,” Brebner said.

“Which I’m not the only one feeling the disappointment to come in after losing yet another game is not where we want to be,

“I accept where we are at, we have a game coming up on Wednesday night and we have to turn that around quickly.”

The Scotsman understands the pressure is building to turn it around and said he is fully committed to turning the teams fortunes around after a difficult run of losses.

“Look, I’m hurting,” Brebner said. “I’m the head coach of this football club, I’m a fan of this football club, I have played at this football club, if anyone thinks that I’m not hurting or I’m not going to work as hard as I can to turn this around then they don’t know me obviously,

“We have had tough times at this club in the past and it just drives me more to turn it around.”

On a positive note, Callum McManaman was electric on his return after missing four games.

The Jets would find themselves incredibly hard done by that they didn’t have three huge decisions go their way.

Roux’s first-half challenge could have easily been a red card on any other day while Leigh Broxham and Jacob Butterfield both were fortunate not to have given away two penalties.

On all occasions, VAR did review the decisions but failed to overturn the referee’s call but fortunately for the Jets it didn’t alter the result.

Newcastle are flying right now. Craig Deans, who was appointed the permanent head-coach of the Jets has his side firing all cylinders with last night’s win their fifth straight game without a loss.

Despite all the uncertainty around their ownership, Newcastle have performed admirably and over the past month have played some tremendous free-flowing football.

Many pundits had them among the teams expected to be rooted to the bottom of the table but suddenly the Jets have emerged as a potential top six candidate.

Deans, who became permanent head coach only weeks ago said his side are finally getting reward for effort after a lean start to the season.

“I’m very happy for the players,” Deans said.

“Another strong performance defensively and a little bit better than last week in terms of creating chances so I’m pleased, we want to keep winning games and moving up the table.”

NCA Newswire