Jets and Sydney put out each others fire

The Newcastle Jets have drawn with Sydney FC at Energy Australia stadium this afternoon after the Jets fought back from one nil down to look like taking the match in the final stages.

Sasho Petrovski slammed home the equaliser in the 84th minute after Sydney keeper, Ivan Necevski, failed to hold onto a header from Nickolai Topor-Stanley.

The Jets started energetically with a flurry of attempts on goal after a curling free kick from Ali Abbas made its way into the box on the seventh minute mark.

Jeremy Brockie let a cherry of a chance go to waste after he lost his footing and let a seemingly regulation tap in go to waste.

That seemed to be the story of the Jets first half as they controlled the majority of possession but failed to convert.

Ivan Necevski was kept busy throughout the opening exchanges, and seemed lucky not to let the ball cross the stripe after fluffing a few saves in the testing conditions.

Labinot Haliti deflected a line drive from Tarech Elrich that rebounded off the cross bar, the ball almost landing over the stripe as Haliti was getting ready to remove his shirt in celebration.

Sydney had minimal chances, however, those they did have came predominantly from set piece, but Kennedy wasn't stretched too far.

Sydney pressed early in the second half with both Juho Makela and Nicky Carle coming close.

Makela's header lacked conviction whilst Carle's drive from outside the box forced Kennedy into action.

Carle was impressive as he made his presence felt in front of his former home fans.

Carle again drove from a similar position in the 61st minute only to be denied once again by Kennedy.

Sydeny finally got scoring underway in the 76th minute.

Bruno Cazarine received the ball with his back to the goal whilst holding up the Jets defender before unleashing with a powerful right foot blast.

However, the Jets weren't dead.

A golden chance came for the Jets in injury time as Marko Jesic chased down a runaway ball to send it across the face of goal.

The Jets then received a set piece with seconds remaining.

Tarech Elrich surprised the Sydeny defence by playing the ball quickly to Petrovski who was denied, however, the ball sat up neatly for Topor – Stanley who clumsily put the ball over the cross bar with his thigh.

Both sides needed the win, but didn't show enough to warrant an opportunity to play finals football.

The Jets need to win their final two matches and hope Wellington lose their round 27 clash for any chance at the playoffs.

Unfortunately for Sydney fans things are no better for last year's champions. Their season has been one to forget and they now have no mathematical chance of making the Finals series.