Late Taggart strike secures point for Perth Glory at Newcastle

A late second goal from striker Adam Taggart earned Perth Glory an away point in a 2-2 A-League thriller at Newcastle Jets.

The Jets looked set to start their season with successive wins until Taggart struck with a well-placed header in second-half stoppage time.

As they had done last week, Newcastle came from behind after Taggart flicked home a fine right-wing cross from Diego Castro in the eighth minute to put Perth in front.

Roy O'Donovan followed up his hat trick in the Jets' 5-1 opening round away win over Central Coast with an equaliser in front of 14,833 fans in Newcastle.

He was set up by Andrew Nabbout, who also assisted two of his goals last week.

Newcastle created most of the opportunities in the second half, and Ben Kantarovski put them ahead with a close-range shot on the hour after a Nikolai Topor Stanley header had hit a post.

They had chances to extend their lead, but Petratos and Ronald Vargas had attempts saved by Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy.

Perth persisted and Taggart was denied by a good save from Jack Duncan before finding the net for a second time.

"To equalise in the last minute gives us a lot of confidence and hopefully momentum going into the next few games," former Jets player Taggart said.

"It's still a special stadium for me, it's really nice to pay here and there's so many good memories coming back."

Newcastle coach Ernie Merrick lamented several missed opportunities after they came from behind the second-straight week.

Irishman Roy O'Donovan followed up his hat-trick in the Jets' 5-1 opening round away win over Central Coast, with an equaliser in front of 14,833 fans.

Ben Kantarovski put them ahead with a close-range shot on the hour, after a Nikolai Topor-Stanley header from a Dimi Petratos corner hit a post.

They had more chances to extend their lead, but Petratos and Ronald Vargas had attempts saved by Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy..

"We had more than enough chances to win that game," Merrick said.

"Again we conceded a goal early and we showed the resilience to come back to score two goals.

"We played some good football and we've come away with the feeling that we've thrown away a couple of points.

"We had several chances to go further ahead and we didn't take them.

Perth persisted and Taggart was denied once by a good save from Jack Duncan before finding the net for a second time.

Glory coach Kenny Lowe praised his side's fitness after they finished on top for a second straight week.

"We could have pinched something last week at Western Sydney but it wasn't to be, but we definitely deserved something today I think," Lowe said

"We're a little a bit of a slow burn I think. We've got six of our first nine away , so we've got a fair old schedule in the early part of the season."

The Jets are away to Brisbane Roar next Sunday, while Glory host the Mariners on the same day in their first home game of the season.