A first half goal to Tim Cahill, followed by a second half strike to Nick Fitzgerald and a brace from skipper Bruno Fornaroli ended a bleak night for the visitors.

The result has delivered a blow to Newcastle’s chances of making the finals. The Hunter outfit remains 8th on the table with Western Sydney Wanderers (6th) and Wellington Phoenix (7th) to play tomorrow.

Socceroo legend, Cahill, might have helped his case for a starting spot in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers after his trademark header opened the scoring on 12 minutes.

Josh Rose’s ball had him leaping over John Koutroumbis and powering the ball past goalkeeper Jack Duncan who was at full stretch.

In the second half Fitzgerald replaced Cahill and gave his team a two-goal cushion in the 65th minute.

Fornaroli then claimed a brace. With 15 minutes to go he scored from the spot after sub Bruce Kamau was brought down in the box by Daniel Mullen before firing in City’s fourth on 81 minutes.

Sanctioned Jets coach Mark Jones watched from the stands as Clayton Zane took control from the sidelines and their team had a golden opportunity at the beginning of the game when Andrew Nabbout was through after some dozy defending by City, he had Thomas Sorensen from acute angle but the final shot was wide.

Just before the half hour mark Nigel Boogard earned himself a place in the referees book after fouling Fornaroli outside the box. The Uruguayan elected to take the free kick and almost doubled the lead with the ball sailing just wide.

City had to scramble at times in their defence towards the end of the first term but managed to tidy up, with the Jets ruing missed opportunities.

The hosts began the second half as they started with shots from Nico Colazo and Neil Kilkenny saved by Duncan.

Fitzgerald’s instant impact came just after the hour mark as Anthony Caceres’ chip to the winger only allowed him to have one touch which evaded the Jets gloveman to double the lead.

It went from bad to worse for City as Mullen brought down substitute winger Bruce Kamau in the box with just 15 minutes remaining and Fornaroli had no issues converting from the spot.

Six minutes later El Tuna got his second to make it 4-0 for City to complete a dirty night for the travelling Jets.

Fornaroli spurned several chances to clinch a hat-trick but now has 17 goals for the campaign and sits one behind Golden Boot leader Besart Berisha.

City are now in a good position to claim third position on the table and travel to Western Sydney next Friday to play the Wanderers without Cahill through Socceroos duty.

Meanwhile the Jets fly across the ditch to lock horns with Wellington.

Melbourne City: 1. SORENSEN Thomas, 3. ROSE Josh, 5. FRANJIC Ivan, 6. MALIK Osama, 8. KILKENNY Neil, 9. COLAZO Nicolas (73’ 11. KAMAU Bruce), 10. CACERES Anthony, 17. CAHILL Tim (57’ 12. FITZGERALD Nick), 21. TONGYIK Ruon, 23. FORNAROLI Bruno, 26. BRATTAN Luke (87’ 18. RETRE Paulo)

Newcastle Jets: 20. DUNCAN Jack, 2. MULLEN Daniel, 4. BOOGAARD Nigel, 5. KANTAROVSKI Ben (73’ 18. MA Lei Lei), 6. UGARKOVIC Steven (85’ 8. POLJAK Mateo), 7. HOOLE Andrew, 9. KOKKO Aleksandr, 10. BROWN Wayne (45’ 19. NORDSTRAND Morten), 15. NABBOUT Andrew, 22. JACKSON Lachlan, 28. KOUTROUMBIS John

Attendance: 8494

Referee: Chris Beath