Pain and gain for Jets in state league debut
BY JOSH LEESON
07 Apr, 2012 04:00 AM

THE Newcastle Jets youth team’s first taste of the Northern NSW State League ended in a 1-0 victory yesterday over Valentine Phoenix, but also came with some pain.

Striker Dino Fajkovic hobbled from the lush Cahill Oval pitch with a severely swollen right ankle after an ugly challenge from Phoenix central defender Scott McGinley in the 71st minute.

McGinley was handed a straight red for the tackle.

Fajkovic, a former South Cardiff target man, was cleared of a break last night but may have ligament damage.

The Jets dominated possession throughout the match and at times appeared to be going through a training drill.

Under-17 Joeys winger Luke Remington scored the only goal of the match, in the fifth minute.

Midfielder Anthony Ragusa fed a through-ball to Fajkovic, whose shot was blocked by goalkeeper Nathan Archbold.

Winger James Virgili then knocked the rebound on to Remington, who placed his shot into the roof of the unguarded net.

From there the Jets lacked the polish in the final third to consolidate their dominance.

Attacking midfielder Kale Bradbery and Remington had shots blocked by Archbold, but the second half produced no clear-cut chances.

‘‘I think if you control this much of a game you’re disappointed to win 1-0 and you make things difficult for yourself,’’ coach Arthur Papas said.

‘‘I think that’s the beauty of playing in a senior competition. It doesn’t come as easily when you have this much possession to create chances, and that’s what they’re here to learn from.’’

The slow pitch and a physical Phoenix, who were also handed four yellow cards, further frustrated the Jets’ attack.

‘‘If they’re in the senior competition, they’ve got to be able to put up with it,’’ Papas said. ‘‘I looked at it today and the average age of our team was 18 on the dot, which is extremely young for a team in a senior competition, but I think they showed they’re going to be OK.’’

Papas said McGinley’s challenge on Fajkovic was poor, but Valentine coach Lindsay Tapp disagreed.

‘I’m not sure if that was a red card,’’ Tapp said. ‘‘Most of their guys thought it wasn’t, and at 1-0 I thought we were just coming back into the game then and a few of the boys felt the momentum was good and then we get a straight red.’’

Broadmeadow Magic are also licking their wounds after their 2-1 victory over West Wallsend at Johnston Park.

Striker Chris Berlin has a suspected medial ligament injury in his knee, and John Bennis and Luke Virgili have corked thighs.

Magic lost Matt Hoole (corked thigh) when he failed a fitness test in the warm-up.

Prolific goal-scorer Peter Haynes opened the scoring for Magic in the first half when he converted a penalty won by Berlin.

Just after the break the defending champions extended their lead when defender Josh Piddington headed home a corner.

The Bluebells fought back in the dying stages when former Magic midfielder Roger Dowdell scored in his first match at West Wallsend.

Charlestown City Blues played with 10 men for 70 minutes last night to beat Lake Macquarie 3-2 at Macquarie Field in their first game back in the state league since 2008.

The Blues had striker Kane Goodchild red-carded in the 20th minute due to an illegal challenge but still led 3-0 at half-time through a brace to Scott Smith and a goal to Daniel Bird.

Former North Queensland Fury striker Alex Read scored twice in the second half in his first match for the Roosters.

Tomorrow, South Cardiff host Weston at Ulinga Oval.

Edgeworth and Hamilton Olympic complete the opening round on Monday at Jack McLaughlan Oval.

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/football-soccer/pain-and-gain-for-jets-in-state-league-debut/2514220.aspx?storypage=0

Hot Jets leave Lake in wake

BY CRAIG KERRY

30 Apr, 2012 04:00 AM


EVEN the mud of Macquarie Field could do nothing to slow the slick skills and speed of the Jets Youth team as they continued their winning start in the Northern NSW State League yesterday.
The under-20s side stayed top of the table in their maiden campaign with a 3-1 defeat of Lake Macquarie, which could have been much worse for the hosts.

Kale Bradbery scored twice and James Virgili once, but the Jets wasted countless chances as they dominated possession with their superior skill, speed and fitness.

Assistant coach James Pascoe was pleased with the performance but conceded they should have won by more.

‘‘We rely on our structure, we want to control the tempo of the game with possession and our pressing from the front and I thought we did that,’’ Pascoe said.

‘‘I think conservatively we had 85 per cent possession, so from that point of view we’re relatively happy.

‘‘The downside is we realistically had 12 good chances and we took three. That was the negative along with conceding a late sloppy goal at the back, but they’re still young boys, they’re still learning.’’

Bradbery scored with a far-post header off a Virgili cross from the right in the 18th minute.

Virgili, who terrorised the Roosters with his pace down the right flank, calmly manoeuvred around advancing keeper Jake Stitt to put the Jets up 2-0 after 27 minutes.

Bradbery slotted home his second in the 60th minute after Blake Green caused a turnover and caught the Roosters on the counter.

Curtis Schuman scored for the hosts in the 90th minute after excellent lead-up work from Brady Parker.

But there was no hiding the dominance of the Jets, who drew praise from Roosters and A-League veteran Andre Gumprecht. The German limped off at half-time with a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

‘‘We expected them to play like that, we knew what they could do and we knew it was going to be hard to stop,’’ Gumprecht, who is heavily involved in junior coaching in the region, said. ‘‘Credit to the Jets boys, it’s great to see the up-and-coming players doing so well.’’

Pascoe praised the attitude of his players, whose immediate futures are clouded, because of the uncertainty surrounding the Jets’ place in the A-League.

Luke Remington was the only casualty for the youth team, coming off in the 41st minute with ankle ligament damage.

A-League players Connor Chapman and Jacob Pepper will return to the squad this week after their end-of-season breaks but Virgili will start a month-long rest.

Broadmeadow made it four wins from four games, thumping an understrength Bears side 5-1 at Weston Park on Saturday night.

Magic led 2-0 at half-time after goals from Rhys Tippett and Hakan Canli.

Robbie Turnbull pulled one back for Weston early in the second half, but Chris Berlin, Shane Paul and Scott Pettit scored to seal the win. The Bears were without Jamie Subat, Chris Cousins, Corey Fletcher and Mick Ryan.

John Majurovski and Clayton Poole scored braces as Hamilton racked up their first win of the season, downing West Wallsend 5-2 at Darling Street Oval yesterday.

Scott Smith scored twice as Charlestown defeated a 10-man Valentine Phoenix 5-1 at Lisle Carr Oval.

South Cardiff broke their duck for the year, downing Edgeworth 2-0 at Ulinga Oval

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/football-soccer/hot-jets-leave-lake-in-wake/2538039.aspx?storypage=0

Will be very disapointing if they get the axe.

This is great, and will serve you guys well next season, both NYL and the big league. If only more clubs did this. Or were allowed to.

how many Jets fans get out to the games?