Dino Kresinger got on the scoresheet again to grab a deserved share of the pre-season bragging rights in Newcastle.
Kresinger's equaliser midway through the second half cancelled out an early 35 yard thunderbolt from Jets fullback Neville which left Tyson stranded. Newcastle had the better of the first half creating several chances and taking advantage of poor Wanderers passing. The Wanderers were kept back in their own territory for much of the half but a solid defensive unit kept the Jets from doing further damage.
The second half was a complete turnaround. The Wanderers came out firing across the park, pressing and putting the Jets defenders under pressure. They created a number of chances and Kresinger got on the end of a good cross by D'Apuzzo and flicked it over Birghitti for the equaliser.
Moments after Labinot Haliti was injected into the match he had a great chance with a wide angled one on one after a through ball but he put his shot just wide. The 1-1 result was at the very least what the Wanderers players deserved and had Haliti been able to hit the net or the Wanderers were able to convert some of the later chances a win would have been a just result. If Popovic had played a full strength lineup with Elrich, Haliti, Mooy and Covic the Wanderers would surely have run out winners by several goals.
This effort was very much a team effort without their star midfielder Aaron Mooy, and with livewire winger Kubi left on the bench for the entire game there were no stellar stand out performances. Despite the good all around team performance, Tyson and Hersi will need to do better to threaten for starting positions.
Popovic was vocal and animated on the sidelines, shouting instruction after instruction to his team. It is clear to see he is aiming for a technical ground based structure with the football and I hope the club will persist with this strategy and bring it through from the youth ranks.
It was a great trip, a nice local ground filled with Jets members most of which were decked out in team colours. I hope that the Wanderers club will be getting a supporter day for our members organised. The amount of young kids there was staggering, and gaining that connection from a young age can make the club a fan for life. The Newcastle fans tolerated our rambunctious hollering with good spirit although I had to stop Abbadabba from causing an inter-club incident after he kept bagging Zadkovic for approximately 15 minutes non-stop.
The next scheduled match for the Wanderers is on Sunday the 23rd of September against the Wellington Phoenix in Christchurch, New Zealand.
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