Bulls Fight Back For A Point

The Bulls had to chase the game from the fifth minute, when Bertoncello put the Jets in front, but they refused to let an early setback become a defeat.

Sasa Ognenovski turned to his bench at the break and the changes paid off in the 70th minute, when Touré levelled the scores. It was a hard-fought point on the road against a Newcastle side that held the bulk of the ball.

The Bulls lined up at McDonald Jones Stadium in a 4-2-3-1, with Oliver Randazzo and Liam Rose anchoring the middle of the park, and they began brightly. In the third minute Nathan Paull had a header from the centre of the box blocked after a Connor Pain cross, and moments later Bernardo Oliveira headed too high from a corner.

Newcastle answered in the fifth minute. Daniel Wilmering found Xavier Bertoncello, whose right-footed shot from outside the box found the bottom right corner to make it 1-0 to the Jets.

Robinson kept the Bulls within reach in the 30th minute, saving Nikos Vergos’ right-footed shot from the centre of the box. Zach Clough sent a left-footed effort from outside the box just wide of the right post two minutes later, and Julian Recchia lifted one just too high in the 38th. A single added minute stretched into two before the Bulls headed in at the break trailing 1-0, with plenty still to play for.

Sasa Ognenovcki acted at the break, sending on Dylan Rose for Oliver Randazzo and Ryan Fraser for Connor Pain as the Bulls chased the game. Zane Schreiber went into the book for a bad foul in the 48th minute, and Luke Vickery replaced Bernardo Oliveira in the 56th minute to add fresh legs in attack.

Ben Gibson then replaced Dean Bosnjak in the 63rd minute, giving the Bulls a very different look in the final third, and the Jets took off goalscorer Bertoncello in the 67th.

Then came the breakthrough. Musa Touré replaced Apostolos Stamatelopoulos in the 69th minute and needed just a minute to make his mark, as Fraser broke at speed and fed him, and the substitute’s right-footed shot from the centre of the box found the top right corner to make it 1-1.

The Bulls kept coming. Vickery was booked for a foul in the 82nd minute, but a minute later Gibson’s header from the centre of the box was saved by James Delianov and Fraser had a left-footed effort blocked straight after.

Wilmering headed just wide from a corner in the 86th minute and Dobson went into the book for time wasting a minute later, before Fraser forced a save from Delianov in the 88th and Touré’s right-footed shot from the left side of the box was kept out in the bottom right corner. The Bulls held firm for a 1-1 draw at McDonald Jones Stadium.

It was a point earned the hard way for the Bulls. After falling behind early at McDonald Jones Stadium, Macarthur never let the contest get away from them, and the 1-1 draw with the Jets reflects a side that refused to stay down. Newcastle had the lion’s share of the ball, finishing with 59.6% of possession to Macarthur’s 40.4%, and 13 shots to the Bulls’ seven, but the visitors were the sharper of the two when it came to hitting the target, with four efforts on target to Newcastle’s three, and Alexander Robinson’s two saves kept the Bulls within reach when the Jets were on top.

The bench was decisive. Sasa Ognenovski’s changes gave the Bulls fresh legs and a new edge, and Musa Touré’s equaliser, set up by Ryan Fraser, was the reward for that call. The Bulls have now taken four points from losing positions this season, more than any other team, and they remain unbeaten in their last three matches. Macarthur also still edge the overall head-to-head, with six wins to Newcastle’s five and five draws in previous meetings, and this resilient showing on the road adds another chapter to that rivalry.

Next match

The Bulls return to Campbelltown Sports Stadium to host local rivals Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday 31 October, with kick-off at 7:40pm local time, looking to stay at the top of the table after their fightback point at Newcastle.