Newcastle coach Rob Stanton will back Apostolos Stamatelopoulos "no matter what" after the star striker missed two penalties in their drama-filled 1-1 A-League Men draw with Melbourne Victory.
Working overtime to make up for his costly mistakes, it was Stamatelopoulos who found the equaliser in the 88th minute at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
"He has proven and shown that he needs to be on the pitch as long as he can be," Stanton said after the match.
"He said 'give it here, I'll take it' and he's missed, but ... I'll back him no matter what.
"I'll accept the outcome because I want him to take ownership - 'OK, I didn't get it', so he's taking responsibility as well, and that's a leadership thing for me.
"If I took him off, it's just because he's struggling, but in the end, imagine if I took him off, and we didn't get the equaliser."
The hosts were looking all but certain to walk away in defeat when Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo spectacularly denied Stamatelopoulos after skipper Roderick Miranda had scored in the 20th minute.
Left vulnerable after teammate Damien Da Silva was shown the yellow card for a handball in the penalty area, Izzo stood tall when he stepped up to meet Newcastle's leading goalscorer.
He boldly dived left to deny Stamatelopoulos, then was made to redo the penalty save after VAR found he had encroached his mark.
Making the most of his second chance, Stamatelopoulos smashed the ball to the right, but Izzo read the play perfectly.
Undeterred, Stamatelopoulos continued to pepper the goal alongside Dane Ingham and Thomas Aquilina, while fresh legs came in the form of Archie Goodwin in the 70th minute.
Goodwin broke free of the Victory defence, but shot way over the crossover before being found offside at 86 minutes.
Stamatelopoulos finally found reward for effort after a perfectly delivered cross from the 19-year-old gave him a shot that Izzo could not deny.
The draw means Melbourne keep their undefeated streak intact, having now avoided defeat in 15 matches.
Still, coach Tony Popovic will be ruing Saturday's result after having had to settle for three 1-1 draws since their round-11 triumph over Perth Glory.
"It's been a bit of a habit of late,'' Popovic said.
"We've had now four from five away from home, and we've been in a position to win all the games, and at the end of the match we're letting it slip.
"We're creating the chances, but we're not putting teams away when we're on top.
"There's no magic wand. It's hard work."
Jets goalkeeper Ryan Scott flaunted his class at the other end, denying Ben Folami, Nishan Velupillay and Miranda in the 19th minute in quick succession.
But Miranda remained dogged, timing his run to perfection to receive a corner and score his first goal since April 2022 - leaving Scott undeniably livid on the pitch.
Powerhouse goalscorer Bruno Fornaroli is set to return to Victory after the Socceroos crashed out of the Asian Cup quarter-final early on Saturday.
Popovic remained non-committal on whether Fornaroli would return immediately to his starting line-up.
"At the moment I'm sure he's disappointed that they didn't go through ... similar to us really," he said.
"So look, we'll assess when Bruno is back and just go day by day, see how he is."
