Oriel Riera was at the double from the penalty spot, but couldn’t surpass goals to Andrew Nabbout and Dimitri Petratos – the pair working perfectly together again to give the Jets a 2-2 draw at Spotless Stadium.

Western Sydney pounced to an early lead, Riera scoring the first of his brace after just seven minutes, but Petratos equalised after the stroke of halftime. Riera then added his second, before immediately being cancelled out a goal-of-the-season contender from Nabbout.

The draw leaves Newcastle 11 points behind Western Sydney, while the Wanderers should have little trouble securing a finals berth – they’re four points clear of Brisbane Roar and equal with Victory after 20 matches played.

Despite the slipped opportunities, Daniel Georgievski was smiling at the match.

“That’s been our season, doom and gloom and mistakes now and there, but we try to fix the negatives heading into the finals,” he said.

“We weren’t 100% but we learn from our mistakes and we try to keep going forward. We’ve got a strong mentality from Ernie (Merrick).

“Well done to Andrew, a lovely kid and that’s why he’s in the form of his life.”

Oriol Riera was slightly more circumspect after the match, but positive regardless.

“We made a few mistakes, that is the way we have to play. They play with very (high) intensity, you have to play at your best level, it’s not good, but it’s enough,” Riera said.

“They had one (opportunity) when we started the second half and the second one was the goal, so we have to improve in things – the first half, the second half, the first five minutes – we have to improve.”