In the fifth minute Sydney made their intentions known with a shot by leading goal scorer Leena Khamis blocked by Newcastle’s keeper Alison Logue. That commenced a solid push by Sydney to get on the board first with the match crucial to their semi final hopes.

Another powerful shot by Khamis in the 11th minute saw the ball blocked by an outstretched hand of a flying Logue and punched wide.

Sydney continued to dominate play and lead the shot count but it was Newcastle’s star striker Katie Gill who put the Jets in the lead against the run of play in the 20th minute.

Gill was left open after receiving a great ball from Joey Peters and sent a high looping ball over the head of Sydney keeper Nikola Dieter who had moved off her line.

Before the dust had settled for Sydney, Gill swooped on a great ball from international import Rebecca Smith in the 27th minute that left Gill with just Lisa Gilbert to beat. Outmuscling the young Sydney defender, Gill slipped the ball past Dieter into the left corner of the goal to take the Jets to a 2-0 lead.

Khamis again lead the Sydney charge in the 32nd minute when she was left open to receive a long ball from Kylie Ledbrook but had her shot blocked with solid defence by the Jets Stacy Day Gill almost picked up a hat trick before half time when a strong run by Emily Van Egmond into the box had her undecided as to whether to shoot or pass to a charging Gill. Van Egmond chose the latter but her pass was just too long for the outstretched foot of Gill and slipped harmlessly across the face of goal.

With half time looming, a desperate push by Sydney in the 2 minutes of injury time saw Khamis foiled again by strong Newcastle defence and great keeping from Logue, with a header from Alesha Clifford just tapped over the bar.

From the whistle in the second half, Sydney upped the intensity and pressured Newcastle to make mistakes, something that Head Coach Gary Phillips had openly admitted was the Jets weakness going into the latter half of matches in previous rounds.

Once again it was Khamis in the 55th minute who threatened Newcastle’s lead but her shot came off the side of her boot and Lisa Gilbert was unable to finish.

In the 68th minute, Khamis was left one on one with Logue but in what summed up the day for Sydney and the sky blues top scorer, the shot splayed of the boot wide of the left post.

In the 74th minute, Khamis had another chance to get Sydney on the board but the shot was blocked by Rebecca Smith in what was to be a ‘Player of The Match’ performance in defence for the Jets.

With time running out for Sydney, the 79th minute saw Nicola Bolger’s shot just scrape over the crossbar and skim the top of the net as Sydney relentlessly pressed the Jets.

Outstanding defence by Rebecca Smith kept the Jets backline solid. Just as Khamis appeared to have beaten Logue in the 83rd minute, the ball was cleared off the line with just millimetres to spare by a diving Smith in what appeared to be the final straw for a luck starved Sydney.

The Jets almost picked up a third goal when a header by van Egmond in the 86th minute was fumbled by Dieter and rolled across the goal mouth. A desperate van Egmond chased down her own header only to have it cleared of the line in a goal mouth tussle by desperate Sydney defence .

Last throw of the dice for Sydney came in the 89th minute when Sydney’s Maggie Elhuseeini just missed a diving header opportunity with only Logue to beat, ending up tangled in the goal net with Logue after both players took a last ditch flying lunge at the ball.

“Despite their place on the ladder we are not taking Perth lightly. It will be a vital match for us and unfortunately the next week will be a disruptive one,” said Jets Head Coach Gary Phillips. “We have half a dozen girls going home for Christmas so training will be shaken up but having said that, we have had the same squad together now for 5-6 weeks and we are really in a good mindset for the team confidence wise.

“Today I think we dominated the first half, we didn’t have as many shots as Sydney but we made our shots count. In the second half Sydney came out firing and we knew they would but our defence was rock solid.”

Sky Blues’ Coach Alen Stajcic said that costly missed opportunities proved the difference between the teams. “If you don’t take those chances – you don’t deserve to win,” he said.