Jason Geria has long been on the radar as one to watch but Muscat said the 24-year-old showed his hard work on the training pitch was paying dividends.

The entire team, he said, was reaping the rewards of a settled line up, stringing together three straight wins and surging into third place on the ladder after a record-slow start.

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“You can sense that we’re playing with confidence, we’re just chipping away and building,” Muscat said. “(Friday night) was another step in the right direction.

“It could have been one or two more (goals) and I don’t think anyone could have had any complaints.”

Kosta Barbarouses opened the scoring on 33 minutes and Besart Berisha fired in the winner 20 minutes later after Newcastle's Jason Hoffman scored the equaliser on the cusp of half time.

The margin could have been more. A Mark Milligan penalty was saved by goalkeeper Glen Moss and a Berisha goal was scrubbed out for offside.

And Geria, who has struggled to add to his one Socceroos cap, was in the thick of the action.

“Jase enjoys playing with Kosta,” Muscat said. “He’s a player with immense potential and he’s taken steps in the right direction to get the best out of himself.

“He was menacing going forward tonight and defended ever so well and has become an attacking threat for us.

“He wins a penalty, he’s putting balls into the box, he put the one in for Kosta for the first goal so they’re combining very well.

“(All) that’s from the fact that we’re getting some continuity and having players spend some good time together.”

Muscat also confirmed his plans to bring in former Perth Glory defender Dino Djulbic during the January transfer window.

The 34-year-old, who was at AAM Park to watch the match is earmarked as an injury replacement for James Donachie but Muscat didn’t rule out the possibility of signing him as a specialist ACL player outside the cap.

"I've been speaking to him (Djulbic) for quite a few weeks now,” Muscat said. “He'll start training with us and we'll look to conclude a deal when the window opens.”