A-League Men strugglers Newcastle have snapped their nine-game winless streak to give a 10-man Sydney FC a rude awakening in their 3-1 home victory.
Desperate to avoid their fourth wooden spoon with four regular season games remaining, the Jets claimed the ascendancy early at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday thanks to first-half goals from Clayton Taylor at 19 minutes and Reno Piscopo at 28 minutes.
Fabio Gomes was able to pull one back for the visitors before the main break after Robert Mak was sent off, but prolific goalscorer Apostolos Stamatelopoulos sealed the deal for Newcastle with a 60th-minute goal.
Goal number 𝟏𝟓 of the season for Apostolos Stamatelopoulos 🔥⚽️
— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) April 7, 2024
After a VAR check, the goal is confirmed and @NewcastleJetsFC restore their two-goal lead! ✈️
Tune in on Paramount+ and 10 BOLD 📺#NEWvSYD #ALM pic.twitter.com/Hn2ayFVzPj
Rob Stanton's men now sit in tenth, buoyed by a two-point buffer over Western United, while Sydney remain fourth on 35 points.
The win will be much cherished for the in-turmoil club after US-based consortium FC32 pulled out as a potential buyer earlier this week.
Talks of new ownership began at the start of this season, with the Jets under the control of several fellow A-Leagues clubs after previous owner Martin Lee was stripped of the licence in January 2021 for failing to inject any money into the club or pay off debts.
Denied a safety net by the Australian Professional Leagues, Newcastle are at risk of folding.
"I've just happy we won. We deserved the win today," Stanton said.
"It's reward for the things we're doing well ... there's a lot of stuff happening around that is distracting.
"When your identity is at the moment in limbo because we don't have owners, then you can't really get it rolling.
"What happens on the pitch, a lot of things have got to go right for you off the pitch with the whole club."
Ufuk Talay's charges, in a repeat of their mid-week outing against Perth, were made to play one man down for almost 60 minutes when tempers flared between Mak and Newcastle's Phillip Cancar.
Cancar went to ground after Mak, walking away from a verbal stoush between players, made contact with the Jets defender's chin when he raised his arms.
Robert Mak was shown a straight red card for this incident in the first half 🟥#NEWvSYD #ALM pic.twitter.com/o1mz1u8PTe
— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) April 7, 2024
Sydney have now been without 11 players five times this season.
"The disappointing part is the opposition player doesn't even get booked. He's the one that initiates the head-to-head at first," Talay said.
"He's the one that pushes him and baits him into that. Robbie is not even looking at him when he waves his arm to tell him to go away.
"It wasn't even going to VAR, so the four officials made the call from the sideline and directed the referee for the red card.
"Normally they check everything, so I find it amazing that they didn't go to VAR to actually have a look at it."
