Jets welcome time to regroup for return trip to Melbourne

Playing their fourth game in 13 days, Newcastle rode their luck to a comeback A-League win over a 10-man Victory at AAMI Park and now enjoy a six-day break before returning to take on Melbourne City.

Newcastle fell 4-2 to City last Tuesday night at McDonald Jones Stadium in a hastily organised catch-up game in the midst of the Jets' busy restart to their COVID-hit season.

Defending champions City had 10 days rest before that match but will be playing their fourth game in 10 days when they next meet Newcastle, who will have more time to prepare.

Jets coach Arthur Papas, though, dismissed any thoughts of an advantage, saying he expected City to handle a packed schedule "possibly a bit better than us".

"We understand what happened in the last game, we reviewed it, and in the end they are still a very good team," Papas said.

"I think they've got the ability to cover games possibly a bit better than us at the moment, so I think it will be good just to refresh for a few days and then focus on improving our performance against them next Friday."

Papas also hoped to have skipper and centre-back Matt Jurman back from an ankle injury that sidelined him for the Victory game and most of the City clash.

"I think he's a chance from the way he's recovered the last 72 hours, so we'll assess as we go," he said. "Obviously he's important for us and hopefully he's back next Friday."

Saturday night's win - the Jets' third of the season - lifted Newcastle from 10^th to eighth, ahead of other games on Sunday, with 11 points from nine matches.

As they did against City, Newcastle struggled in the opening half against Victory and were fortunate to be only 1-0 down at the break.

The Jets then capitalised on the send-off of Victory skipper Josh Brilliante in the 48th minute to level in the 57th through a brilliant goal from Valentino Yuel before Beqa Mikeltadze scored from the spot in the 70th.

The first of Brilliante's two bookings and the penalty against Brendan Hamill for the winner were both contentious calls.

Olivier Boumal was awarded the penalty, just six minutes after coming off the bench, when he was knocked from behind by Hamill when receiving a ball in the box with his back to goal.

Victory coach Tony Popovic said the contact "clearly wasn't a penalty".

"If we're going to start giving penalties for challenges like that then we've really got some issues," Popovic said.

He also said referee Daniel Elder was inconsistent with his yellow cards.

"If we're going to give yellow cards like that, let's do it all the time," he said of Brilliante's bookings. "Let's do it throughout the whole game."

Papas was proud of his side's fighting effort, which included a goal-line clearance from Dane Ingham (35th minute) and Jack Duncan's diving save to stop Hammil's header (92nd).

"I'm extremely pleased with the players and staff," Papas said. "It hasn't been easy returning since the long layoff and knowing coming here is always very difficult.

"Last Saturday they were being crowned [FFA Cup] champions here, so a lot of confidence playing at home.

"I'm just really proud of the playing group for the performance and the grit that they needed to show at times."

Victory, who were fourth on 15 points before Sunday's games, dominated the first half, firing four shots on target to the Jets' none, but Newcastle held them out until the second minute of stoppage time.

Jake Brimmer was gifted an easy put-away after Marcos Rojas was denied at close range following a quick counter-attack.

The hosts looked to have scored in the 40th minute via Hamill at a corner but he was found to be offside on review. Newcastle then appeared to equalise in the 51st minute when Jason Hoffman showed deft touch and a crisp finish off a chipped ball over the top from Kosta Grozos, only for the goal to be overturned for offside.

They couldn't be denied though in the 57th minute when Yuel and Daniel Penha combined for a quality goal. Penha's pinpoint ball over the defence found a flying Yuel, who hit a first-time, half-volleyed dink with the outside of his foot over keeper Ivan Kelava at close range.

The Jets were then ahead when Mikeltadze scored his seventh goal of the season - equal top in the league - with another cool finish from the spot. It gave him a goal in five consecutive games, equalling Joel Griffiths' club record streak.

Although happy with the result, Papas knew there was work to do.

"I didn't feel we ever got control of the ball enough in the first half and their intent was a lot better going forward," he said. "Some combinations in wide areas we were struggling with, a lot of set pieces which we had to deal with, so at halftime it was just about trying to get the ball back and being better with the ball, playing over shorter distances and then moving it into spaces that could possibly hurt them.

"There was a shift and then the red card is also a part of the game, but I was proud of the players because we played against 10 men not long ago [versus Macarthur] and we didn't get a result, so we still needed to."