Boxing Day Derby Ends In Blows As Newcastle's Season Slips Away

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday December 27, 2008

Brett Keeble with AAP

Newcastle 1

Central Coast 2

NEWCASTLE'S A-League title defence ended in more heartache last night when they surrendered a 1-0 lead to go down in a heated affair against derby rivals Central Coast in at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

The match was marred by a melee after the final whistle, believed to have been sparked when Mariners midfielder John Hutchinson kicked a ball into the Jets' supporters' bay and Joel Griffiths retaliated. Central Coast's Dylan Macallister was shown a red card for using abusive language.

Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna said he was disappointed in his players' conduct, but was keen to see if action would be taken against Griffiths or any other Jets players.

"After the game, there's no need for it," McKinna said. "I don't know what happened. I know everyone was diving in there getting involved. It's just funny that everyone's in there and two of your players get cards. It will be interesting to see if there's footage of that because I know John Hutchinson had hands wrung around his throat when it all started, so it will be interesting to see what comes out of that."

The Jets had given up an early lead for the third time in four games after scoring a ninth-minute penalty, and stay rooted to the bottom of the table after the loss. The three points took the Mariners top of the table, albeit briefly as Adelaide's 1-0 win over Perth later last night restored them to the summit.

Sasho Petrovksi, who has been linked to a move to Newcastle after this season, rammed home a fine near-post header in the 67th minute and substitute Matt Simon outmuscled two defenders to score the winner for Central Coast in the 80th minute.

The home side's miserable night was compounded by what appeared to be serious injuries to young striker Marko Jesic and star defender Mark Milligan.

Jesic left the field with a suspected torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He has already had reconstructions to both knees. Jets coach Gary van Egmond said the initial prognosis was not promising. "We're hoping that it's not the worst, but it doesn't look good," he said. "That would be his third [reconstruction], which is a real shame. [Milligan] has done his ankle pretty bad. I'm not too sure if it's grade one or grade two, but he's in ice at the moment."

Van Egmond acknowledged the finals were out of reach, saying their focus was now on avoiding the wooden spoon and preparing for their Asian Champions League campaign.

"I think now they [Central Coast] are on 25 points. We're 15, 10 away, with four games to go. Barring a minor miracle, it's definitely over," he said.

"But we don't want to finish with the wooden spoon, so there's obviously an incentive there - and there's obviously our preparations for the ACL."

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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