The Jets came painstakingly close to backing up a clinical four-goal rout of Wellington in round two with another three-point performance against Western Sydney at Blacktown on Friday, only to concede in the 90th minute for a 1-1 draw.

The equaliser came after Newcastle had led 1-0 for almost 70 minutes. Chances to extend the lead went begging in the second half in a game that was played end to end.

A win would have elevated Newcastle to six points after three rounds. Instead, they dropped from fourth to fifth place on four points and two adrift of the top four.

Jets coach Ash Wilson said the draw made it even more important to take three points when they play Phoenix again, this time at Central Coast Stadium in their next outing on December 27.

"We want to stay as connected to the top four as we possibly can," Wilson said.

"For us, that's about collecting points week in and week out. If we can make sure we get another three and finish this first four block on at least seven points then we're starting to make headway on what we want to achieve."

Newcastle are eyeing a return to finals after a three-year absence. But they will need to be consistently more clinical if that is to be achieved.

"It's always a battle [against Wanderers], so you know you have to work hard for the full 90 minutes," Wilson said.

"We created enough chances before that 75th minute mark - we just weren't able to capitalise on them and they got a bit of a sniff. It's always a bit of a swing in momentum and, obviously, we just didn't deal with that as well as we could have in that late 10-minute period. It turned into a bit of a frenzy and it's not a great way to finish a game when in patches we had a lot of control and could've secured the three points."

The Jets endured a disrupted build-up to the Wanderers clash due the surging COVID-19 outbreak in the Hunter region.

"It had been a challenging week but we weren't using that as an excuse," Wilson said. "You just have to show a bit of character at times like these and the girls have a lot of character. It's disappointing that we didn't get the three points but I can't fault their character this week."

One positive from the match was seeing another Jets player get on the scoresheet - this time left-back Tiana Jaber.

Jaber produced a spectacular long-range shot for her first A-League Women's goal. The Jets have relied heavily on all-time leading scorer Tara Andrews to provide goals in recent seasons but several players have already found the back of the net this campaign.

Lauren Allan scored in a 3-1 loss to defending premiers Sydney in round one. Kirsty Fenton, Andrews, Sophie Harding and Marie Dolvik Markussen all scored when the floodgates opened against Wellington.

But the same ruthlessness evaded Newcastle against an experienced Wanderers.

"They make you work for everything," Wilson said. "They try to bully you on the park with their strength and their physicality.

"It was never going to be a game of pretty football and at times we let ourselves fall into that trap of playing the way they were.

"Against Phoenix, we were pretty comfortable and in control of the game. This week, it was a bit more of an arm wrestle and we probably didn't deal with moments where we were under the pump as well as we could have. We could have backed ourselves a bit more to play our football at times. There were things that we tried to rush and force when we had the ball."

Melbourne Victory moved to nine points on Saturday with a 3-2 win on the road that left Brisbane Roar (0) rooted to the bottom of the table. Melbourne City (six) defeated Adelaide 3-1 at AAMI Park.

The match between Perth (six) and Canberra (0) was postponed.

Sydney (six) play Wellington (1) at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on Sunday afternoon.