Wasteful Newcastle Jets drop points against finals rivals Phoenix

The Newcastle Jets wasted chances in front of goal and the opportunity to close the gap on the top six.

Jets striker Ronny Vargas, left, celebrates with teammate Jason Hoffman after scoring the opening goal against Wellington Phoenix last night. Picture: Getty Images

Newcastle Jet’s hopes of finals football could be over after they could only manage a 1-1 draw with Wellington Phoenix in an extraordinary game at McDonald Jones Stadium.

Needing a win to reduce an eight-point gap on the team directly above them in sixth spot, the Jets fell short after being denied by the steelwork and some of the best goalkeeping of the season from Phoenix’s Oliver Sail.

The Jets could also count their lucky stars they did not end up with no points after their goalkeeper Glen Moss produced a pressure save to deny Roy Krishna from the penalty spot in the 88th minute.

How this game finished with just two goals will remain a mystery. Even a 5-5 scoreline would not have done this match justice as both sides were guilty of appalling finishing in front of goal.

In the end it was goals from Jets attacker Ronny Vargas (33rd minute) and David Williams (58th) that saw the two sides share the spoils.

Phoenix looked the better side in the opening half-hour and dominated with some decent football.

There was no sign of the visitors sitting back as they took the game to the home side and had them under pressure. However, they could not convert possession and field position into something more substantial, though they had enough opportunities.

The first of them came just eight minutes in when Mandi fired an effort from outside the box that thundered against the left post before falling at the feet of teammate Louis Fenton, who could not react quick enough and put his first-time effort wide with an open net beckoning.

Moss was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers and was forced to make a couple of stunning saves.

The first came on 10 minutes when Liberato Cacace tried his luck from outside the box only for Moss to dive full stretch to his right to keep the low shot out.

Moss outdid himself with his next save on 31 minutes when Phoenix fired in a cross from the right that found Williams, who met it with a header into the ground that appeared goal-bound only for Moss to dive full stretch to tip it on to the crossbar.

Realising his side was under pressure, coach Ernie Merrick changed his formation, switching to a back three.

It seemed to do the trick as the Jets came into the game much more and then Vargas brilliantly unlocked the Phoenix defence.

He received the ball inside the box to the left of the post, dummied two defenders, drew the ball back with his right foot to fool another before planting the ball into the back of the net with his left foot.

The visitors struck back 13 minutes after the break when Williams equalised after turning the ball into the net from a Fenton cross.

Newcastle, however, should have taken the lead just three minutes later but were denied by two world class saves in the space of seconds from Sail. First he denied Dimi Petratos with the ball falling to Roy O’Donovan, whose shot smashed against the post and fell back at the feet of Petratos, whose thunderous shot was tipped over the bar by Sail.

The Jets were again denied by the steelworks when Daniel Georgievski’s header hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced clear six minutes later.

Coach Ernie Merrick said it was a deflated Jets dressing room.

“I thought the boys gave it everything. We worked hard, created clear cut chances, hit the crossbar, hit the post, and again their goalkeeper was man of the match,” Merrick said. “I think we have the record for opposition goalkeepers getting the man of the match.”