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Newcastle got their season off to the perfect start when Byun scored a 93rd minute winner to sink Melbourne Heart in a stunning game.
The opening match of the 2011/12 season got off to an exciting start with both sides having chances in the opening five minutes. For the home side it was Ryan Griffiths at the far post who tried to hit Ruben Zadkovich’s cross first time but couldn’t find the necessary power. It was a similar story for Heart’s David Williams who, when put in on goal, scuffed his shot wide of the mark.
Williams didn’t hide in his shell after that miss, though, and should have had a penalty 15 minutes in. After getting past the defence again he was taken down by Ben Kennedy but denied the spot kick.
But they soon hit back from that frustration in the 24th minutethrough the other winger, Mate Dugandzic. Jason Hoffman unleashed on a brilliant run through the midfield, beating Jets new defender Tiago Calvano. His ball across the box then found Dugandzic cutting inside and he made no mistake with the finish.
Minutes later and tempers were flaring after Ali Abbas kicked – or tapped, rather – Behich from behind when the ball had been put out of play. The Heart players rushed over to confront Behich but the situation was resolved with the only yellow going to ‘keeper Nikola Roganovic.
When all was calmed, it didn’t take long for the Jets to hit back on the scoreboard. Jonatan Germano chopped down Griffiths on the edge of the area after 31 minutes and was made to pay when the striker spectacularly curled his shot into the far corner of the net.
This opened the match up even more and both sides were trading blows and, on the stroke of half time, Newcastle threw one that stuck. Michael Marrone was caught out of position and allowed Griffiths an alarming amount of space on the edge of the box. The chance was spotted by Abbas who put the ball across to the striker. Griffiths controlled and kept his composure to beat the ‘keeper and give Newcastle the lead.
But once more a lead wasn’t held long as Dugandzic equalised just six minutes into the second half. After a brilliant cross from Fred into the far post, Dugandzic latched onto it and tapped it in to the net to secure his second and get Heart back into the game.
As the match began to come to a climax the tempo and attack was still there, but it became more and more obvious this was the opening game of the season as the players struggled for any skill or creativity in the final ten minutes.
So it was perhaps a little unsurprising that the winner came from a wicked deflection. Byun, who had never scored in the A-League, had his shot change it’s course completely and leave Roganovic stranded. But the fullback didn’t care as his 93rd minute goal secured the three points for the Jets.