Newcastle seemed to be hungover from their weekend off in the first half. They gradually came back into the game and by the end they looked the better side.

Meanwhile, the VAR sent more football purists into fits of righteous anger. Three big decisions went upstairs, or came from upstairs, who's really sure how it works? It's as if decisions go before a twenty referee panel who all decide by dice roll.

The game also featured another push by Andrew Nabbout for Socceroo selection. He hit one of the goals of the season and how many Australian strikers have scored like that recently?

Vedran Janjetovic 6 – made a couple of very neat saves to deny the Jets a first half goal. He was saved the ignominy of an own goal by the VAR. He’ll need to up his contribution to the international keeper’s union after that decision.

Raul Llorente 6 – in the first half he got forward well and was involved in a lot of the Wanderers' best plays. He really faded out of the game though. 

Michael Thwaite 6.5 – got his smiling head in the way of a lot of good balls. Did his job well tonight, the two goals his team conceded involved some incredible skill, not much blame to go around. 

Brendan Hamill 6 – did well to stifle O'Donovan but the Irishman isn't at his best.

 

 

 

 

Josh Risdon 6.5 – had a glut of chances in the second half and didn’t score. He could have had a hat trick or more but can we really expect a full back to shoot straight?

Roly Bonevacia 6 – spent a fair bit of the game prone on the turf for one reason or another.

Steve Lustica 5.5 – rarely sighted.

Marcelo Carrusca 6 – some lovely displays of skill but off the ball he seemed to constantly make bad runs.

Chris Ikonimidis 7 – he was too hot to handle in the first half. The VAR robbed him of an early goal and sure, with the correct camera angle he was 3 inches offside but do we really need to be that exact? Other than his disallowed goal he had a very good game. His mum should be proud. He seems to be playing the game at a quicker pace than his team mates and they need to do better to provide him with support.

Oriol Riera 6.5 – other than his two well taken penalties he didn’t have too much of an impact on the game.

Mark Bridge 5.5 – rather anonymous tonight.

Subs

Alvaro Cejudo 4.5 – missed a great opportunity that he really should have, at least put on target.

Keanu Baccus 5.5 – was involved in some good play and some bad play after coming on. A few of his balls were a little bit behind

Nicholas Sotirio – wasn’t on long enough to get a rating.

Newcastle

Jack Duncan 6.5 – made a couple of good saves and was only beaten from the penalty spot.

Daniel Georgievski 6.5 – maraudered down the wing all game. Did some very nice work.

Nigel Boogard 6.5 – really threatening at set pieces and held his own defensively. Also kept his teammates cool when they were on the end of some bad decisions.

Nikolai Topor-Stanley 5.5 – gave away a clumsy penalty that gave Western Sydney their first and then he was the victim of a cruel VAR decision for the second. Otherwise, he didn’t play to the standard he’s set for himself this season.

Jason Hoffman 6 – a decent game from deeper on the pitch. He should have had an own goal assist if there is such a thing? His goal causing challenge on Janjetovic  

Wayne Brown 5 – this wasn’t a game for the midfielders. The way the Jets play often bypasses the holding midfielders in possession and Western Sydney also moved the ball a bit quick for Brown to do much defending.

Steven Ugarkovic 5.5 – like Brown, he didn’t see a heap of the ball from his teammates.   

Dimi Petratos 7.5 – finished off a great move for Newcastle’s first and gets a beautiful assist for Nabout's goal-of-the-season contender.

Andrew Nabbout 7.5 – goal of the season so far. Merrick’s lips may even have twitched a little bit. A great little dummy to tea up Petratos for the first goal too. He’s really exceeding expectations this season and he deserves to be in Socceroo consideration.  

Roy O’Donovan 5.5 – still trying to get back to full fitness. He didn’t play badly he’s just not at his best and was off the pace tonight. He’ll probably hit form at finals time and then the Jets will be looking very dangerous indeed.

Pato Rodriguez 7 – he was a constant danger, beat his player nearly every time he tried. Missed a few chances to pass to a team mate, including one two on one opportunity.

Subs

Riley Mcgree 6 – he does give the Jets something different in the midfield. He gets forward a lot more than the other boys that play in the midfield.  

Joey Champness 6 – did well in his cameo. Maybe with more time on the pitch he could have nabbed a winner, he looked very dangerous in the dying stages.

Nicholas Cowburn 6 – again, not many minutes on the pitch but he managed to find the ball once and hold it up well and win a corner. Not bad from off the bench in the last couple of minutes.