Newcastle jet Ryan Griffiths celebrates a goal with his teammates against Melbourne Heart at Hunter Stadium. Source: Getty Images
NEWCASTLE landed a crucial blow in the scrap for A-League finals places with a 2-0 win against fellow top-six contender Melbourne Heart last night.
Emile Heskey and Ryan Griffiths scored in each half at Hunter Stadium as the Jets climbed back into the top six with their first win in five games.
It was Heart's sixth straight loss on the road, leaving it sitting perilously in sixth spot.
Heart coach John Aloisi was disappointed his men didn't take their chances in the first half and admitted the away form this season was a serious problem.
"It's not good - we know that," Aloisi said.
"We're trying to put it right, but now we've got a home game next week (against Sydney FC).
"It's a big game for us. We're still in finals contention and we have to keep working hard."
New Dutch recruit Marcel Meeuwis made his debut off the bench in the 62nd minute, and Aloisi said he would be better for the run.
Jets coach Gary van Egmond made five changes to his starting side, including three in defence and a first start of the season for English striker Michael Bridges.
It had the desired effect, with Bridges impressing in a classy display and striker Adam Taggart also making an impact after being promoted. Griffiths and midfielder Zenon Caravella were other strong contributors, while Heskey was a tower of strength up front.
He gave the home side the lead after just nine minutes, taking a first-time shot well after Griffiths unlocked the Heart defence with a clever through ball.
The visitors had several chances to hit back, with dangerous striker Eli Babalj causing most headaches in attack.
He wasted one chance in the 13th minute, but was unlucky not to equalise when his volley struck the post from a Richard Garcia cross.
Heart started the second half strongly and came within centimetres of an equaliser through Nick Kalmar in the 53rd minute.
Brazilian playmaker Fred made his return from a quad injury off the bench.
Taggart capped a strong performance when he set up the Jets' second in the 81st minute.
Taggart found Griffiths with a looped-through ball and the striker controlled it beautifully before craftily scooping the ball over Heart goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne.
Van Egmond admitted it was a tough call to drop young guns Craig Goodwin and James Virgili to the bench, but felt the inclusion of new faces worked a treat.
"It was time (to make changes)," van Egmond said.
"As you saw tonight, we looked dangerous."
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