Ten-player Jets sink Victory to stay in finals race as goalkeeper sees red

The Jets needed to win the penultimate A-League clash to stay in the finals race and twice came from behind to secure back-to-back wins for the first time in five years.

But they finished the game with 10 players after Nino was red-carded in the 92^nd minute for grabbing and pushing Victory striker Emily Gielnik.

Tempers erupted after Gielnik grabbed Mindy Barbieri, who was tying up her shoelace after a free kick had been awarded in the 89^th minute, from behind and pulled the Jets player to her feet.

The two players grabbed each other then Nino entered the fracas. Barbieri and Gielnik were both issued yellow cards before Nino was given her marching orders.

The Americanis is set to miss their crucial final-round match against Adelaide away on Good Friday. Teenage shot-stopper Lily-Rose Dunbar made her A-League debut off the bench in place of Barbieri for the final seven minutes of stoppage time on Saturday.

Victory took a 1-0 lead in the 14^th minute when an unmarked Rachel Lowe finished from directly in front following Gielnik's cross into the box.

It came after Sophie Hoban and Sarina Bolden had hit the crossbar and their Jets teammate Emma Dundas forced a diving save out of Victory goalkeeper Courtney Newbon.

Gielnik put wide two chances of her own in a high-paced, entertaining opening 15 minutes.

The Jets applied plenty of pressure as the half wore on and were finally rewarded when Lauren Allan equalised with a stabbing kick at the back post after Lorena Baumann delivered a long ball into Victory's 18-yard box.

Allan almost had an assist in first-half stoppage time when she played Bolden into a goalscoring opportunity but Newbon denied the shot from in front with a diving effort.

Victory defender Tori Hansen restored the one-goal advantage for the visitors with a right-footed volley at the back post into the bottom right corner after a free kick in the 53^rd minute.

But Ayres, who put a frustrating seven weeks on the sideline behind her due to concussion and illness one week earlier with a 20-minute effort off the bench, came on in the 71^st minute for Bolden and had immediate impact.

Playing against her former side, the lethal sharpshooter scored into the bottom right corner of Victory's net from Lauren Allan's throw-in in the 80^th minute. Ayres rolled her defender and unleashed from the edge of the box.

Ayres then scored from the top of the area in the 87^th minute, burying her right-footed shot into the top left corner of the net after Allan had done well to win the ball off Victory defender Emma Checker and lay it back for the assist.

The result elevated Newcastle to 30 points, three behind fifth-placed Victory and onto level footing with sixth-placed Western Sydney.

Wanderers were playing Western United on Saturday night.

Young Matildas defender Claudia Cicco replaced Josie Wilson in the only change to the Jets' starting side from their 3-1 win over second-placed Western United in round 20.