Soccer: Knights dreams turn to torment

Newcastle Jets 4 Nz Knights 0

Any dream of more of the same from the New Zealand Knights quickly turned into a first-half nightmare and eventually the biggest A-League drubbing in Newcastle last night.

Defensive bungles cost the visitors dearly as the Newcastle Jets raced to a 3-0 lead inside 40 minutes on their way to an eventual 4-0 victory at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

The result relegated the New Zealanders to the bottom of the Hyundai A-League table.

From the time the home side were handed a gift-wrapped 13th-minute opener - when leaden-footed Knights goalkeeper Danny Milosevic was stranded as Labinot Haliti pushed the ball into the gaping goal - the Jets shut out the dismal Knights, who were looking to build on last week's win in Gosford.

The visitors were denied what seemed a legitimate penalty shot three minutes later but that would have been a small consolation as the home side were handed a second goal when the defence was again caught out in the 28th minute.

Milosevic failed to gather and Matt Thomson, confronted by an empty net, made no mistake.

The rampant home side, despite being on the wrong end of a first half 6-3 corner count, made it three seven minutes before the break when Stuart Musialik headed home as the defence was again found wanting.

Coach John Adshead, obviously furious at what had gone before, made three halftime substitutions. Danny Hay, Josh Rose and Noah Hickey took no further part.
The dispirited effort, with now no All Whites-eligible players in sight, continued after the break. Ronnie Bull gave away a clumsy penalty, won and converted by Nick Carle in the 70th minute.

In other action, a heart-breaking late goal from Melbourne's Daniel Allsopp cost Queensland Roar second place on the ladder when they battled to a 1-1 draw with the Melbourne Victory in front of 15,444 fans at Suncorp Stadium yesterday.

Reduced to 10 players when Matt McKay was sent off five minutes before the break, the home side went ahead on the hour when Michael Baird scored.

Feeding off the scraps of the talented Victorians, the Roar held on until Allsop's 89th-minute goal.

In a sometimes ill-tempered affair - six players booked and one sent off - the visitors had more scoring attempts (19-11) and more corners (7-1) but could not break down the resultant Roar defence.

It was a similar story elsewhere.

Adelaide came from behind on the testing away trip to Perth to score their third win. It was all the more laudable as they did with 10 players for the last 23 minutes after goalkeeper Daniel Beltrame was sent off for a silly challenge on Scott Miller.

The home side took the early lead with a goal credited to ace goal-grabber Bobby Despotovski but he needed some help. He fired a shot at Beltrame but his clearance smacked into his own defender, Michael Valkanis, and from him into the goal.

Ross Aloisi equalised in the 32nd minute and the game was eventually settled in the 65th minute when substitute Shengqing Qu underlined his undoubted skill to grab the winner.

It was the first time in four games Adelaide have scored more than one goal. The statistics told a different story, with the home side having 10 more attempts on goal and an 11-3 corner count.

More than 15,000 turned up at Aussie Stadium to watch Sydney FC slump to their second loss of the season beaten 3-2 in a thriller by Central Coast Mariners.

Andrew Packer gave the home side a flying start when he scored after 13 minutes. Stewart Petrie got the Coasters back to 1-1 six minutes later and Andre Gumprecht gave the visitors the halftime lead 10 minutes before halftime.

Dwight Yorke, who continues to impress, had the Sydneysiders back on terms after 72 minutes but then shared the heartbreak with his team-mates when Noel Spencer scored two minutes into added time.

Like Perth, Sydney dominated with 53 per cent of the possession, a 9-1 corner count and 16 attempts to 10. The Mariners won no friends in committing 27 fouls (to 18) in a game well-controlled by New Zealand referee Peter O'Leary.