Western United created chances and had the lion’s share of possession but ultimately fell to a 2-0 defeat against Newcastle Jets in the Isuzu UTE A-League Men on Saturday evening.
Two goals within the opening 22 minutes did the damage as Trent Buhagiar scored both for the Jets to give them control on the scoreboard.
Noah Botic had a goal disallowed and Michael Ruhs hit the post as it proved to be another luckless outing for the Green and Black.
Team News
John Aloisi was forced into two chances as Josh Risdon dropped out due to suspension and Sebastian Pasquali missed the game with a foot injury.
Kane Vidmar slotted into the back four as Jacob Tratt moved across to right back while Steven Lustica returned to the midfield and captained the side in Risdon’s absence.
There were two debutants in waiting on the bench with youngsters Jake Najdovski and Max Bisetto named on the bench for the first time in an Isuzu UTE A-League fixture.
First Half
Newcastle started the stronger of the two sides and took advantage with an early goal as Buhagiar headed home from Dane Ingham’s cross in the ninth minute.
United sought a swift response and had a half chance from a corner when Riku Danzaki got a flick on Lachie Wales’ delivery, but the ball ultimately deflected behind for another set piece.
Aloisi’s men slowly worked their way into the game and put together a string of nice passages of forward play.
Daniel Penha began to see more of the ball and Wales was able to find space on the right-wing on two occasions, but the Jets were able to clear their lines both times.
Cruelly for Western United, Newcastle went up the other end and doubled their lead just as the Green and Black was making inroads in the contest.
It came from United’s own corner that Newcastle cleared before Buhagiar dribbled the ball from inside his own half all the way into United’s box to finish into the bottom corner.
United continued to stay positive in possession and came so close to finding the equaliser just after the half hour mark when Botic hit the net from Riku Danzaki’s cut-back, but the offside flag went up to halt any celebrations.
Danzaki’s afternoon soon came to an end when he fell heavily on his arm after looking to break through on goal, adding to Western United’s frustration with a deficit to overcome in the second half.
Second Half
Content with the two-goal cushion from the first half, Newcastle began to sit deeper and relinquish possession to Western United in the hope of holding onto their clean sheet.
Through the opening 20 minutes of the second period, United had held 85{7a6e82b8d14c77de8a891b9b4da991b937e6f2936790952b019fcbb8398a48da} of the possession since the restart but the Jets defended well in front of their home supporters to ensure no harm to Ryan Scott’s goal.
Penha forced a good save from Scott from a direct free-kick and Ben Garuccio swung in a teasing ball towards the back post that Noah Botic just couldn’t make contact with.
Newcastle had their moments on the counter attack as United committed men forward and there was a little extra motivation for the visitors when Apostolos Stamatelopoulos was sent off after being shown a second yellow card.
Western United never stopped looking to play forward and create openings and found joy in the wide areas, particularly on the left-hand side with Garuccio getting forward from left back.
It was yet another afternoon where nothing went United’s way, emphasised by Ruhs thumping the post with a powerful strike.
The Green and Black remained on the front foot right until the final whistle but ultimately couldn’t avoid defeat away from home.
