IN-FORM Jets midfielder Angus Thurgate continued his goal-scoring run but again defending from set pieces proved the Achille heel as they went down 2-1 to A-League leaders Western United at Ballarat on Saturday.
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The Jets pushed Western to the limit. They created a bounty of chances against the best defence in the league.
They dominated possession, won the corer count 10-4 and on the balance of chances, should have taken a point.
Angus Thurgate was in the right place at the right time to slot home for his fourth goal of the campaign. Jordan Elsey and replacement Eli Babalj had golden opportunities with headers but sprayed them wide.
But at the other end they continue to leak goals - goals that should be avoidable.
Swiss defender Leo Lacroix was the hero for Western United with goals in the 16th and the 53nd minutes - his first in the A-League . The surprised look on his face told a story after he was allowed to dart in front of a pack of Jet defenders to head a Ben Garuccio corner beyond keeper Jack Duncan.
The second came not long after the break.
The Jets failed to clear another Garuccio corner. Lacrois was waiting to head home again when the ball was sent back in and defender Matthew Jurman popped the ball up.
"In the end the game was decided on set pieces," a frustrated Jets coach Arthur Papas said. "It was not that we were getting opened up in open play. "|We need to defend better from set pieces and we weren't able to do that in the first and second half. In the end that is the difference in the game. "
"Performance wise it was up there. But it is difficult to take because the result is the result. We had chances as well against a team that doesn't concede chances."
The Jets played well for large parts, They stretched the normally compact Western defence and created chances on goal.
In the 81st minute they finally struck when Dylan Murnane knocked Daniel Penha's cross back across the face of goal for Angus Thurgate to tap in.
Eli Babalj should have equalised with a header in 88th-minute header, but it angled just past the right post.
The loss left the Jets in eight spot on 15 points at the halfway point of their campaign.
The win was Western United's fourth straight and they are now three points clear of Melbourne City at the top of the table with a game in hand, and ten clear of third-placed Macarthur FC.
Arthur Papas' side will look to rebound against Wellington on Wednesday evening, while United travels to face Sydney FC next Friday.
James Gardiner
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
