KEEPER Lewis Italiano provided the heroics as the Newcastle Jets finished the Surf City Cup on a high, beating Perth Glory 4-3 on penalties after the scores were locked at 1-all at fulltime on Tuesday night at the Croation Sports Ceentre.
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Italiano dived low to his left to deny Juande and then sealed the win, saving the fifth attempt by Ivan Franjic.
"Lewis saved a couple of crackers and did really well," Jets coach Ernie Merrick said. "We want Lewis pushing Glen Moss really hard."
Dimi Petratos was the only Jets player to miss from the spot, sending his effort high.
Steve Ugarkovic, Johnny Koutroumbis, Kosta Petratos and Makis Petratos all converted.
The Jets opened the scoring in the 11th minute through Ben Kantarovski. But his goal was cancelled out by a Neil Kilkenny penalty on the stroke of half-time.
"We acquitted ourselves really well and were a bit unlucky not to win in regulation," Merrick said. "We had three one-on-ones with their keeper. Arroyo hit the post with one, Dimi put one over the bar and Jason Hoffman was also right through.
"They had two good chances as well
"I was very impressed with the level of the boys' fitness. Perth virtually changed their whole team, but our lads never stopped pushing."
The Jets were without Kaine Sheppard, Jack Simmons and Angus Thurgate who have been struck by a virus and flew home on Tuesday. Their departure left the Jets with 14 fit players and they gave an opportunity to a youngster from the tournament hosts, Gold Coast Knights, to play off the bench.
The win over last season's A-League premiers followed a 3-1 loss to Brisbane on Sunday.
The Glory, who went down 1-0 to Brisbane in the tournament opener on Friday, fielded an attacking line-up spearheaded by Diego Castro and Bruno Fornaroli.
Kantarovski put the Jets ahead in the 11th minute with a clinical header from a pin-point Dimi Petratos cross.
Nick Fitzgerald nearly doubled the advantage in the 26th minute but his lob was fractionally high.
Joel Chianese went close for the Glory in the 40th minute, forcing a diving save from Italiano.
Four minutes later Perth were on level terms after Italiano brought down Chris Harold in the box and Kilkenny converted from the spot.
The Jets thought they had regained the lead in the 62nd minute when Jason Hoffman tapped in only to have the goal pulled back for off-side.
Two minutes later Abdiel Arroyo was denied by the post and the Panamanian missed another chance in the 69th minute.
