A-League Review: Newcastle Jets demolish Mariners in record-breaking win

Newcastle Jets demolished Central Coast Mariners 8-2 in Saturday’s F3 derby in the highest-scoring match in A-League history.

The second-placed visitors scored five goals in the last 37 minutes in a madcap encounter at Central Coast Stadium to conclude their regular season in style and send the Mariners to the bottom.

Ernie Merrick’s side had lost their previous three games but they looked set to get back to winning ways after only 24 minutes, with Joseph Champness, Roy O’Donovan and Riley McGree putting them 3-0 up.

Connor Pain, who had earlier hit the post, got a goal back before half-time but McGree struck his second 53 minutes in to set up an extraordinary remainder of the match.

Lachlan Jackson headed in Dimitri Petratos’ corner before O’Donovan struck the sixth from the penalty spot, and McGree completed his hat-trick with a composed finish 15 minutes from time.

Trent Buhagiar fired in another consolation but Petratos got in on the act barely a minute later, as the Jets hit eight goals in a single game for the first time.

15 – @NewcastleJetsFC have set the record for the most goals against a single team in an @ALeague regular season, scoring 15 goals in three games against the Mariners this campaign (5-1, 2-0, 8-2). Annihilate. pic.twitter.com/xFM0B37Jcp

— OptaJason (@OptaJason) April 14, 2018

13 – The record was previously held by @AdelaideUnited, who scored 13 goals against the Fury in 2010/11 (3-2, 2-0, 8-1). Red. pic.twitter.com/wr9Qvfcvyl

— OptaJason (@OptaJason) April 14, 2018

The Mariners finish bottom of the table due to Wellington Phoenix’s earlier 2-1 win over Melbourne City.

Bruno Fornaroli’s stunning strike put the visitors ahead at QBE Stadium before a double from Sarpreet Singh sealed the comeback win.

11 – @MelbourneCity have scored 11 goals from outside the box this @ALeague campaign, five more than any other team in the competition. Pike. pic.twitter.com/Wx8qff51HU

— OptaJason (@OptaJason) April 14, 2018