Mallia scored with a neat far post header from a corner, following his strike against Adelaide United last weekend, in response to Ruben Zadkovich's first-half strike. 

The match was a free-flowing affair with both sides taking advantage of the long Leichhardt Oval pitch.

Mallia and Ali Abbas in particular looked dangerous going forward while it took some great defence from Sky Blues defender Fabio to snuff out several early Newcastle chances. 

The deadlock was broken in the 30th minute when Zadkovich curled a free kick over the wall from the edge of the penalty area, giving Ivan Necevski no chance between the sticks. 

Newcastle took the 1-0 lead into the break with the Sky Blues making a single change at half time as NYL player Chris Naumoff was given some game time in place of Powell. 

Naumoff came close to levelling the scores in the 60th minute when a sweetly hit shot from the left was cleared off the line by Newcastle defender Josh Mitchell but the home fans didn’t have to wait long to celebrate. 

From the ensuing corner the Sky Blues levelled the game at 1-1 when Mallia leapt high at the far post to head home an inch-perfect Petratos delivery. 

The equaliser also saw the introduction of Emerton, who made a welcome return to the pitch after undergoing off season ankle surgery, slotting into a central midfield role during an impressive 30 minute display. 

Both sides made several changes in the final 20 minutes and it was Sydney FC who finished the strongest.

The best chance fell to another Sydney FC youngster but Nick Taneski headed the ball over the crossbar from an Ali Abbas cross in the 86th minute. 

Sydney FC will now head north next weekend for a friendly clash with Brisbane Roar in Mackay on Sunday. 

Sydney FC 1 (Mallia 61') drew Newcastle Jets 1 (Zadkovich 30')

Leichhardt Oval

Referee: Strebre Delovski

Crowd: About 2000 

Sydney FC: 1. Ivan Necevski, 2. Sebastian Ryall (5. Nathan Sherlock ‘61), 3. Fabio (16. Tom Slater ‘61), 11. Dimi Petratos, 12. Blake Powell (6. Chris Naumoff ‘46), 14. Mitch Mallia (17. Nick Taneski ‘68), 15. Terry McFlynn (c) (24. Zac Nicholas ‘68), 18. Trent McClenahan, 21. Paul Reid (7. Brett Emerton ‘61), 22. Ali Abbas, 23. Rhyan Grant.

Sub not used: 20. Vedran Janjetovic. 

Newcastle Jets: 20. Mark Birighitti (1. Ben Kennedy ‘46), 2. Dominik Ritter (13. Sam Gallaway ‘61), 4. Joshua Mitchell (3. Taylor Regan ‘75), 5. Craig Goodwin, 6. Ben Kantarovski (Jacob Pepper ‘46), 7. Marko Jesic (10. Bernardo Ribeiro ‘46), 8. Ruben Zadkovich, 9. Ryan Griffiths (19. Michael Bridges ‘75), 11. James Virgili, 15. Scott Neville (12. Joshua Brilliante ;75), 16. Jobe Wheelhouse (c) (24. Mitchell Oxborrow ‘75)