Late starter Kosta Grozos scored his first A-League goal to secure Newcastle's 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory in hot and windy conditions at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The 22-year-old came into the starting side for key midfielder Reno Piscopo, who was ruled out in a major blow to the Jets due to a suspected groin injury sustained in the warm-up.
The Jets led 1-0 at the break after Beka Mikeltadze scored from the penalty spot in the 37th minute. It was awarded when Jaushua Sotirio was felled in Victory's 18-yard box by Roderick Miranda.
The visitors levelled in the 51st through Nishan Velupillay, who struck with a left-footed shot from the top of the Jets' area.
But Newcastle regained the lead seven minutes later with a cleverly taken free kick that put Grozos on goal. Mikeltadze slipped the ball to his unmarked teammate on the edge of Victory's box and Grozos turned and fired his shot into the bottom left corner of Melbourne's net.
The win elevated Newcastle from eighth to seventh position on 21 points and equal footing with sixth-placed Wellington, who have a superior goal difference and were playing Macarthur later on Sunday.
In the only other change to Newcastle's starting side, Trent Buhagiar replaced Daniel Stynes on the left wing.
Young gun Archie Goodwin, who scored late in the Jets' previous two outings, and Callum Timmins were both ruled out after sustaining minor knocks at training on Saturday.
Defender Mark Natta returned to the squad and new recruits Manabu Saito and Tom Aquilina, who were signed during the transfer window, featured off the bench in the second half.
The result left Victory, who had beaten Newcastle 4-0 in Melbourne on November 4, rooted to the bottom of the A-League ladder on 14 points after 15 games.
The Jets next face Macarthur in Campbelltown next Saturday.
There was a minute of silence before kick-off to acknowledge the lives lost in Syria and Turkey following last week's devastating earthquakes.
To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.
