Adelaide United have snapped a run of three consecutive A-League Men losses with an emphatic 3-1 victory over Newcastle at Coopers Stadium.
Hiroshi Ibusuki returned to the starting line-up and found the back of the net in the first half on Friday night, while Zach Clough and Ben Halloran added goals in the second to lift the Reds back into sixth place.
“I think in the end the result is going to be a good boost for the playing group,” said Reds' coach Carl Veart.
“It’ll give them good confidence in that when we play the style of football that we want to play and execute it, we can play some really good stuff. I think tonight we did at times.”
United were on the attack early and had the first chance when Jonny Yull skied over from close range after a dinked cross from Luka Jovanovic.
The Jets then had a glorious opportunity to break the deadlock when Reno Piscopo raced onto a long ball over the Reds’ defence and outpaced Alexandar Popovic to be one-on-one with Joe Gauci.
Piscopo shot from the edge of the area but the Adelaide goalkeeper stood firm and stuck out a strong arm to deny a certain goal.
Newcastle would be left to rue that miss with the hosts opening the scoring almost immediately after on 14 minutes.
Ryan Kitto released Jovanovic, who darted inside the area behind the Jets' defence to provide the cutback for Ibusuki. The towering striker caressed the ball into the back of the net with a neat side-footed effort.
On the half hour, United midfielder Isaias struck the upright after letting fly from 25 metres.
After the interval, the visitors worked their way back into the contest and began to create chances. Clayton Taylor took on his opponent inside the area and shot, but it was blocked by some desperate Reds defending.
Phillip Cancar was next to go close for Newcastle, rising highest from a corner to head towards the bottom corner, forcing a stunning save from Gauci.
Cancar was involved at the other end minutes later, bringing down Jovanovic inside the area after the United striker was shaping to shoot.
Clough stepped up and converted the spot kick on 68 minutes with a low and hard drive under the body of Newcastle keeper Ryan Scott, who picked the right way.
Two minutes later, United had a third following a devastating counter.
Nestory Irankunda charged towards goal and exchanged passes with fellow substitute Ben Halloran, before lifting a cheeky little chip over Newcastle’s static defence.
Clough’s volley on the turn was saved by Scott but fell perfectly for Halloran who had continued his run and nodded home the rebound.
The Jets grabbed a late consolation goal when Archie Goodwin took possession and slipped through Justin Vidic whose left-footed strike was too powerful for Gauci, who managed to get a glove to the ball.
Newcastle coach Robbie Stanton felt there were enough positives despite the defeat.
“Overall we probably got what we deserved but I’m still really happy with the boys,” he said.
“There was a 10-minute period when we lost our composure, but I'm really happy with how we came out in the second half.”
