Newcastle Jets extend good A-League run with win over Adelaide United

Newcastle Jets came from behind to secure a 2-1 A-League win over Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Saturday.

The victory maintains the Jets' unbeaten start to the season and temporarily moves them to the top of the table.

For the Reds, it was their third loss on the trot.

United dominated the early stages with George Blackwood and Ryan Kitto combining for an early chance but the striker was denied from close range by Jack Duncan.

The Reds' goal came after 24 minutes with Kitto involved again, supplying a delightful through ball from inside his own half for Nikola Mileusnic.

The winger latched onto the long pass and made no mistake slotting his shot past the onrushing Duncan from the edge of the area.

As the half wore on, the Jets worked their way back into the contest with a handful of blocked chances from Roy O'Donovan and Dimi Petratos.

Newcastle equalised right on half-time when Petratos whipping in a perfect cross for Ben Kantarovski to power home at the near post.

Newcastle made the perfect start to the second half when Andrew Nabbout rounded Izzo on the edge of the area and tapped the ball into the empty net on 47 minutes.

The flyer intercepted a weak back pass from young defender Ben Warland and was left with just the Reds keeper to beat.

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Five minutes later and the Jets should have buried the contest with Nabbout again through on goal but his square pass to O'Donovan led the striker to remarkably miss an open goal from five metres.

Not long after Nabbout had another chance to finish off the Reds but his one-on-one chance was thwarted by Izzo who had little trouble keeping it out.

Newcastle Jets coach Ernie Merrick said the win was "pretty average" and has warned them to stay focused despite going to the top of the A-League ladder.

"We're only six games in, we're keeping grounded," he said. "Whether you're top of the league or not it's just about collecting three points every week."

Merrick said following the opening goal, he tinkered with the midfield resulting in a shift in momentum and a number of chances for the Jets.

"I wouldn't call it a great victory, it was a pretty average performance," Merrick said. "For the first half an hour we were chasing our tails, we just couldn't keep the ball.

"I made a couple of midfield changes and it turned around the last ten minutes of the first half."

He added: "We reorganised it at half time and did well in the second half but in the end we just had to hang on. Adelaide did what they had to do, they threw numbers forward.

"It wasn't a great game of football but it's probably better winning ugly than losing pretty."

United coach Marco Kurz slammed the Reds response following the Jets' first goal caused Warland's backpass.

"It's a big mistake from Benny Warland but I'm not angry about this mistake," he said. I was angry about the ten minutes after the mistake because we lost complete discipline out of our position.

"That cannot happen... that's, for me, the biggest error from today."