Newcastle Jets 2 Sydney FC 2
The legendary Newcastle away trip – always something to savour, always some controversy on the field and plenty of action of it, the first A-League game of 2025 did not disappoint. Had Sydney FC come away with a two-goal defeat, no one would have been surprised, but they staged a remarkable comeback to send their fans away feeling like they’d won. Another afternoon baking in the hot sun, a decent crowd for a Jets game, and even a wander on the McDonald Jones Stadium field at the end where many legends have walked before us. Let me tell you all about it!
The journey from the northern suburbs of Sydney started around 2.15pm, and it would have been a much earlier start for those taking the bus to Newcastle; we passed the mega bus as it pulled into the Heavy Goods Inspection bay just before Gosford, and it seemed unlikely that they would be making good time for the 5pm kick off. A warm day had turned hot by the time we parked up in the main carpark at McDonald Jones Stadium, and a lack of activations in front of the main gate led us to enter straight away.
The scene was setting for an exciting afternoon. A band was setting up at the northern end, and we did a tour of the stadium just to see what was on offer from a food and drink perspective before settling on our old favourite sushi and wandering past the home hill that was filling up nicely. Great to see Lee, fresh from his trip to watch the Toon at Old Trafford, and national team champion Andy (and the Jets’ number one fan Dylan!) Despite having only just bought our tickets on the way up the M1, we were nicely in the shade, with the big expanse of seats for the away bay in full sun and cooking nicely.
There was no sign of the Cove, but a decent turnout in the away bay, and with the teams taking their time to come out of the tunnel, there seemed to be some stalling to give them time to arrive. Those in the away bay were in full voice though with We Are Sydney as the teams eventually walked out into the blazing sun. The chants continued and the team had full backing. It was clear though that the Sky Blues were going to have to weather a storm in the opening stages, and Newcastle poured forward.
Suddenly there was activity at the far corner of the north end, the Cove appearing into view and making their way along the walkway to join the away bay. The eruption in noise was amazing. The Cove stopped at the entrance to the stand and roared at the fans already in the away bay; they stopped again just before entering the bay and got themselves fully fired up for the task ahead, and they strode purposefully down the steps, with arms aloft in full song, to the front of the visitors’ section where the wall of noise continued. Now we had an atmosphere, game on!
Alas, Sydney did absolutely nothing in the first half going forward. Patryck Klimala looked lively and almost nipped in to beat Ryan Scott, but more often than not, Jordan Courtney-Perkins was left chasing a ball he would never keep in and the Douglas-less Sydney FC attack looked blunt. The Jets did all the attacking. Eli Adams blazed over from an acute angle, Clayton Taylor was a constant thorn, and the outrageously-named Harrison Devenish-Meares was busy in the Sydney goal. The first half was coming to an end, with plenty of action up at our end, when the Jets finally made the breakthrough, a ball slid across goal and Aaron Gurd was unlucky to see the ball ricochet into the net for an own goal. Sydney had looked calm in defence up until then, but there were moments where both teams gave away the ball sloppily, and it was no surprise to go in 1-0 down at the break.
The band played, the younguns danced, the funny faces on-screen on the kids and the band were a hoot. Sydney FC take note : know your audience. Whilst DJ Tik-tok and Blaring Bluey might be online sensations for small sections of the fanbase, there’s nothing like a good bit of rock and roll to get the fans going. It was good, honest un-pretentious entertainment.
Sydney were all over the Jets in the second half, Adrian Segecic blazing a shot wide and another one well over, and we were getting into lots of good positions. It was a surprise then when a dangerous ball to the far post was bundled home by Taylor and the Jets had a two-goal lead. Heads were in hands in the away bay. This was as bad as it gets. Another game of huffing and puffing in midfield and capitulating in defence; but we never lost hope and despite a seemingly negative triple-subtitution with fifteen minutes left on the clock, the move paid almost instant dividends. We’d seen Joe Lolley cut in and smash one over, but he repeated his now predictable run and cut-in onto his left soon after and picked an absolutely exquisite finish out of nowhere to halve the deficit. Get the fuck in, hope flooded back into the players and the game turned in our favour.
Anthoy Caceres was pulling the strings, Sydney were dangerous up the right and had the full-field switch available to relieve the pressure. When the lively Anas Ouahim was surprisingly sacrificed for the excitement mchine Tiago Quintal, Sydney were clearly going for it. The appearance of Brazilian flop Wellissol may have been one step too far for the Jets, and his altercation with Rhyan Grant got both sets of players riled up. And then the comeback was complete. Scott made a hash of clearing a corner, and there was Caceres on the spot to flash an impressive volley past a load of defenders into the net for 2-2. What a moment. We expected a nonsense foul to be given, but we weren’t to be denied and the goal stood. Get in.
There was only going to be one winner after that, and whenever Sydney had the ball in added time, the Cove was in a frenzy. Alas, the final whistle stopped the turnaround in its tracks and the points were shared. We were happy enough. What had looked like a damning defeat and a shaky performance had become a precious point and a game that we looked most like winning. We headed down the front, daring to come out of the shade for the first time, and lapped up the atmosphere. Some of the players came across to sign stuff, shake hands and take selfies. The man-mountain of a security guard instructed those who wanted to take advantage of the kids on the field event to head to a different part of the stadium to gain access. Ufuk Talay broke away from his full-time commitments to come over and show his appreciation. Nice touch.
The lure of getting onto the field was too much, and we ended up seeing the Jets players surrounded by fans, a number of players staying close to their family members, others taking the plunge and being swamped on the field. Imagine if Sydney FC did that and left Leo Sena and Douglas Costa to their own devices on the Allianz field, just imagine!
I finally got to meet the light sabre guy who I’ve been taking photos of in the Jets’ away ends over the years, and it was good to bump into other familiar friendly Newy faces. The security staff eventually heralded the end of pitch-time and we left via the way we came in, stopping to see off the mega bus as it took the weary Cove back on the epic journey back to Sydney, bumping into Joe Lolley in the car park and seeing the rest of the players filtering onto the team bus. The car park was deserted, so getting out was a breeze, and after negotiating the back streets, we were back on the route back to the motorway and then on to Sydney. The signs in the tunnel were a little unusual, but we were back in good time for a feed before the first of the EPL games at 11.30pm. Howay the lads!
What a day. It’s great to be able to do away trips like they do in other countries, with a couple of hours drive taking you to a different city and a different scene altogether. The Cove rocking up late added to the occasion, and the late fightback almost brought us the three points against all odds. Next up, come on you girls in blue! The return to Leichhardt. Get excited. The only way is up, baby!