Adelaide United and Newcastle Jets have shared the points after playing out a thrilling 1-1 draw at Hindmarsh Stadium. Adelaide United: 1 (Cassio '76) Newcastle Jets: 1 (Jin-Hyung Song '6)
Venue: Hindmarsh Stadium
In the 6th minute, the Jets opened the scoring when Jin-Hyung Song found space on the edge of the area and put his shot past Adelaide keeper Eugene Galekovic.
It was a bright start by the Jets who had lost their past three matches but they looked a different team in the first half despite not holding the majority of possession.
Iraqi import Ali Abbas Al-Hilfi was causing plenty of problems for the Reds defenders but the home team almost got an equaliser when Lloyd Owusu flew in for a header at the opposite end but could only knock it into the path of Jets keeper Ben Kennedy.
Aurelio Vidmar's Reds went into the break a goal down despite having much more possession and he would have urged his team to be more efficient in the second term.
The Reds had a perfect opportunity to level the score when Travis Dodd made a great run through midfield, laid it off for Cassio who cut a pass into the area where Lucas Pantelis was brought down by Ljubo Milicevic.
Reds skipper Dodd went to the left but Jets keeper Kennedy guessed the right way and produced an important save just before the hour-mark.
Owusu was close to scoring with twenty minutes remaining when Scott Jamieson whipped the ball in to the area but the big Englishman's header went wide of the mark.
Adelaide's equaliser finally came when Brazilian winger Cassio struck a brilliant volley into the right corner from the edge of the area in the 76th minute and the dynamics of the contest had completely changed.
Wonderboy Mathew Leckie was brought on by Vidmar midway through the term and it almost paid off when he squared up Jets skipper Matt Thompson on the edge of the area and took on the defence only to see his shot fire into the side netting.
The match then begun to heat up with end to end play and both sides had great chances to go ahead.
Leckie was again causing trouble and almost scored again but the Jets defence held strong.
The Jets thought they had won with five minutes to go when Jobe Wheelhouse was played in and scored but was adjudged to be off-side and just moments later, Kaz Patafta and Tarek Elrich worked their way into the area before Elrich knocked it back for Song but he whipped his shot over the crossbar.
Elrich then took on the Reds defence with a positive run but his left-foot shot missed by centimetres as both sides searched for a winner late in the piece but the score ended 1-1 in an engrossing contest which saw Adelaide remain in seventh and the Jets stay second bottom.
