The Newcastle Jets are the Australian Hyundai A-League 2008 Grand Final champions after defeating the Central Coast Mariners in Sydney last night, 1-0
The [tag-tec]Central Coast Mariners[/tag-tec] started the game cautiously while the [tag-tec]Newcastle jets[/tag-tec] came out very quickly and confidently. About half way through the first half the game settled down into a very even contest. Both teams had opportunities to score, however Newcastle jets had more possession in the first half with a 60% possession compared to the Mariners 40%.

The second half continued the same as the first with neither side threatening to score until the 64th minute when a Central Coast Mariners defender turned over possession and Newcastle seized the opportunity to score. Mariners threw everything they had at Newcastle in the remaining minutes, however the Newcastle Jets defense stayed resolute. In the final minute of the game, there was a scramble in the Newcastle Jets penalty box after a corner kick and Central Coast Mariners players appealed for what looked like a hand ball by a [tag-tec]Newcastle Jets[/tag-tec] player, however the referee, in what has proven to be a controversial decision, did not award a penalty and sent the [tag-tec]Central Coast Mariners[/tag-tec] goalkeeper off for dissent. See below for video of the goal and the controversial hand ball incident.

A telling statistic out of the game was that the Mariners had 19 attempts at goal with 4 on target while the Newcastle jets had 7 attempts at goal with 3 on target.

Mariners Football Manager Lawrie McKinna summed up the Mariners performance after the match when he said “We didn’t play well, we knew that Newcastle would come at us the first twenty minutes, which they did and we held on quite well.” McKinna then went on and said “We kept them honest in the last few minutes and with a bit of luck we could have got the equaliser, but it never came.”

Congratulations to the Newcastle Jets for taking out the [tag-tec]Hyundai A-League[/tag-tec] Grand Final and commiserations to Lawrie and the Central Coast Mariners. You have been great ambassadors for the central coast all year and have had what can only be described as a tremendous year. We look forward to seeing the Central Coast Mariners going one step further next year by taking out the double.