Late penalty heroics and quick-fire double delivery from Adams help Jets upset MacArthur

Ellie Adams has inspired Newcastle Jets to an impressive victory by scoring twice in a 2-1 A-League Men’s win over Macarthur.

Adams’ four-minute double represented Newcastle’s only two shots on target in the full 90 minutes, which saw Macarthur race through in front of 3809 fans at Campbelltown Sports Stadium on Friday.

But the Bulls were made to regret their profligacy in front of goal as they failed to extend their lead in last week’s 6-1 win over Perth.

French import Valère Germain had a chance to level things up with a penalty in the 90th minute, but the Jets’ No. 1 Ryan Scott found the net for the win.

“I thought we were a little careless and I’ll take responsibility for that,” Macarthur coach Miles Sterzowski said.

“The first half… we didn’t get into the game and Newcastle were hungrier than us.

“Last week was a good performance – one of the best performances I’ve seen at this club – maybe we thought it was going to be easy.”

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McArthur’s frustrations came to a head after full-time when assistant coach Christophe Gamel was shown a red card by referee Tim Danascos following a post-game scuffle with Newcastle’s Dan Ingham.

Sterzowski said: “There were a lot of people pushing and shoving but I don’t know where it all started.”

Jets coach Rob Stanton said his team was eager to show they would not be intimidated by anyone in the AL.

“There were some choice words and that happens with players when emotions are high,” Stanton said.

‘It’s not a good look but players are upset and they may say a few words and it becomes a problem, hopefully it’s not an issue.’

Macarthur blamed himself for the defeat after making a promising start and taking the lead in the 19th minute.

Winger Jade Drew made an incisive run down the right side and was able to feed a pass to Marin Jakoulis, who finished at the back post.

Drew’s shot was cleared off the line by Thomas Aquilina early in the second half and the Bulls’ ineffectiveness in front of goal proved costly.

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The Jets had barely found anything up to this point, but they found an opening down the right when Macarthur turned the ball over cheaply in their own half.

Adams was quick to latch on to the loose ball and slide past Matt Germann into the MacArthur box before firing past Filipe Curto to score the equalizer in the 56th minute.

Eli Adams celebrates. (Photo by Mark Metcalf/Getty Images)

Clearly buoyed by their goal, Newcastle were looking for more and they had to wait just four minutes to take the lead.

A direct ball was played long to Ben Gibson and the forward was able to maintain play and find the onrushing Adams, who fired his second from the edge of the box.

Stanton said of Adams, “I’m not sure when he last played a full 90 minutes.”

“It’s hard to be a good player if you’re not playing consistently and I’m not surprised he scored these two goals, it’ll give him a boost.”

Germain had a chance to tie the game at the death but Scott made the save and the Jets held on for a valuable win on the road.