JETS striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos equalled the club record for most goals in a season with another quality finish in a 2-0 win against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
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Stamatelopoulos struck in the 63rd minute, after young tyro Clayton Taylor opened the scoring 10 minutes earlier.
It was the 16th goal of the season for Stamatelopoulos, lifting him level with Adam Taggart's landmark, which earned the Socceroo the A-League's Golden Boot award a decade ago.
Stamatelopoulos now has two games to beat Taggart's record and is within two goals of the competition's leading scorer, Bruno Fornaroli, who has found the net 18 times.
It was Newcastle's second consecutive win, following last week's 3-1 upset against Sydney, and effectively killed Brisbane's slim finals hopes.
The result lifted the Jets to 27 points, five points clear of Western United and Perth Glory, in the race to avoid the wooden spoon.
As speculation mounts surrounding the club's future, coach Rob Stanton and his players have strung together a three-game unbeaten run.
They now have home games remaining against competition heavyweights Wellington and Central Coast, and will be hoping for a groundswell of support to send A-League officials a message that the embattled club is worth saving.
