Melbourne Victory scrapes past Newcastle Jets to end A-League winless streak

   

Hunter Stadium has finally become a happy A-League hunting ground for Kevin Muscat, after his below-par Melbourne Victory put Newcastle to the sword 1-0 on Sunday.

Fahid Ben Khalfallah's second-half winner was eight games and more than six years coming at this venue, snapping the club's long-time hoodoo and their five-match winless slump at Hunter.

SCOREBOARD: NEWCASTLE 0-1 VICTORY

	Newcastle 0-1 Victory
at Hunter Stadiun, January 3, 2016
2	Shots on target	7
9	Shots off target	10
54%	Possession	46%
4	Corners	5
1	Offsides	7
Newcastle Jets: 0 Melbourne Victory: 1 (F Ben Khalfallah 71')

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For 71 painstaking minutes, it looked like neither side would break an end-to-end deadlock characterised by long balls and scarce pretty play.

But Victory ensured they remained in fifth place at the season's halfway point and closed the gap on Sydney FC to one point.

It leaves the deflated eighth-placed Jets winless in nine attempts and without a goal in 469 minutes and five matches, only one match less than the now-defunct New Zealand Knights' all-time record of six back in 2006.

Victory opened with a flurry and forced Newcastle gloveman Mark Birighitti into a few quick saves, including a potential own goal from Jason Hoffman, who got stuck in a scramble to block Ben Kantarovski's goalward drive.

It was touch-and-go when Archie Thompson smacked the deflection back Birighitti's way but it hit the upright.

They fashioned admirable opportunities, but yet again lacked the polish to whittle them into anything meaningful.With defenders Hoffman, Daniel Mullen and skipper Nigel Boogaard finally together again, the Jets weathered the early storm and worked their way back into possession.

Perhaps the absence of suspended winger David Carney and perennially injured playmaker Leonardo had an impact, but glimpses of good play between Serbians Milos Trifunovic and Enver Alivodic did not trouble Victory `keeper Danny Vukovic.

Victory, meanwhile, were rickety, seemingly without a feasible game plan as they dallied in purposeless possession.

The closest they - or indeed either side - came to opening the book before Ben Khalfalla's goal, was in the 53rd minute, when Oliver Bozanic cracked a shot dead on target as Birighitti loitered vulnerably off his line.

But Hoffman was in position for the vital block.

As the match wore on, yellow-carded Besart Berisha became a time bomb of mouthy agitation that did not stop ticking, even when Kosta Barbarouses galloped downfield in transition and put the winner on a plate for Ben Khalfallah.

Ben Khalfallah himself had stealthily run out wide and back inside to isolate Birighitti, as Newcastle defenders called for cover that never came.

If there had been an equaliser, it looked like coming four minutes later from the head of Trifunovic, but the striker put Cameron Watson's cross into Vukovic's hands.

SCOREBOARD: NEWCASTLE 0-1 VICTORY

	Newcastle 0-1 Victory
at Hunter Stadiun, January 3, 2016
2	Shots on target	7
9	Shots off target	10
54%	Possession	46%
4	Corners	5
1	Offsides	7
Newcastle Jets: 0 Melbourne Victory: 1 (F Ben Khalfallah 71')