Kantarovski scored in the second half to bring Newcastle back to 2-1 after he latched onto a Nikolai Topor-Stanley header and scored with a back-heel flick from two yards out.

However, the Jets 62nd minute goal proved to be a prelude to more Adelaide United goals with Ryan Kitto and Johan Absalonsen scoring within 10 minutes.

Along with Petratos and Nabbout, Newcastle were also missing Irish striker Roy O’Donavan and Kantarovski admitted the Jets lacked the personnel to get the win over Adelaide.

“It’s a disappointing result for us”, he said speaking to Fox Sports after the match. “it’s our first loss in a while and hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and take into the finals.

“We lost a few good players and we have a few good quality players coming back. We also have a few young boys who have an opportunity to step up, what you want is a good player so it’s up to them to take that opportunity with both hands.

“Next week we have Roy O’Donovan coming back and a few other players will be back as well and hopefully we will look forward to another result the next week.”

With three games left to play Newcastle may be out of the Premier’s Plate running with Sydney FC due to play Central Coast Mariners on Saturday.

 Kantarovski also denied that the prospect of playing Sydney FC in the semi-final had been a distraction.

“No not really”, he said. “It’s exciting. The people in Newcastle haven’t had that for a while, the community in Newcastle has been really supportive.

 “We really have got all them behind us, so we’ve got to do it for them. At the end of the day we are going to go out there and try our best and hopefully make that grand-final.”