Newcastle Jets have kept their slim finals hopes alive, defeating a threadbare Adelaide United squad 3-1 at ServiceFM Stadium.
Kiwi Kelli Brown’s opener and Isabel Hodgson’s equaliser made it 1-1 at half-time, before goals from Josie Allen and Brown again in the second half saw the Jets get the win.
With Fiona Worts leaving for Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels and players missing through injury, international duty and personal reasons leaving them with only three outfield players on the bench, it was always going to be a huge test for Adelaide United.
For all of Newcastle’s early dominance of possession, it was Adelaide who took the first real shot on target after 15 minutes with Lara Gooch drawing a fine save out of debutant keeper Ally Boertje.
Newcastle then opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when Brown pounced on a Dylan Holmes mistrap and slid the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.
Adelaide keeper Claudia Jenkins made a crucial triple-save to keep the score at 1-0; first parrying Melina Ayres’s cross, then blocking Brown’s follow-up effort before deflecting Ayres’s powerful shot on the rebound out for a corner.
Adelaide captain Hodgson found an equaliser just before half time, perfectly positioning herself to get in front of her marker Zoe Karipidis and flick on Chelsie Dawber’s in-swinging cross from the left.
Newcastle restored their lead 10 minutes into the second half, Sophie Hoban outmuscling Ella Tonkin before cutting the ball back past the on-rushing Jenkins for Josie Allan to finish into an open net.
This started a spell of immense pressure from the Jets with Adelaide’s defenders putting their bodies on the line to keep the ball out of the net.
Brown grabbed her second for the afternoon in a similar fashion to her first, getting on the end of a through ball behind the Adelaide defence and finishing along the ground into the far corner to give Newcastle a two goal lead with less than 10 minutes to play.
Adelaide will host Wellington next Friday in the final round of the season, while Newcastle have to sweat on tomorrow’s results before playing Melbourne City next Sunday to see if they’ll being playing finals football this season.
