A Bruce Djite hat-trick gave a record Skilled Park crowd plenty to crow about on Saturday night as Gold Coast revived their top-two A-League hopes with a 5-1 thrashing of Newcastle.
The ruthless fourth-placed Coast moved back into striking distance of Adelaide and Central Coast with their best victory of the season to put a major question mark over the injury-riddled Jets finals claims.
One of four teams fighting for the last two play-off spots, Newcastle (31) remain seventh, two behind the Heart (33) who drew 2-2 against the Victory (34) in the Melbourne derby.
A crowd of 14,783, boosted by Coast owner Clive Palmer’s generosity in throwing the gates open to raise funds for flood relief, lapped up the Coast’s opportunistic display, highlighted by Djite’s treble and an Adama Traore classic, which laid the foundations for the drubbing.
The home side went into the match without regular starters Zenon Caravella and John Curtis, who were rested, but they weren’t missed as Traore produced a stunning ninth-minute volley for one of their classiest goals of the season.
Golgol Mebrahtu skilfully beat Jets debutant Sam Gallaway in the right corner before a failed clearance allowed Bas van den Brink to pass to the unmarked Ivorian who hammered home a curling left-footer from the edge of the penalty area.
The Jets, missing six first-team starters with Kasey Wehrman and Ruben Zadkovich the latest to fall the club’s injury crisis, went close to equalising twice through Labinot Haliti who forced Glen Moss into desperate saves.
But Newcastle’s good work was undone in the 36th minute when poor defending allowed Dino Djulbic to head a corner into the path of Djite who finished his first of three from close-range.
Shane Smeltz hammered the nail in the Jets’ coffin on the hour when he cooly slotted home from the edge of the box following some more impressive lead-up work by Mebrahtu and Van den Brink.
Smeltz could have had two goals in three minutes but hit the right upright with a penalty after Tarek Elrich was yellow-carded for bringing down Traore.
Elrich atoned with a run down the right flank and centre for Newcastle’s only bright spot, a 75th-minute consolation goal for Chinese striker Zhang Shuo.
It was battering ram Djite, though, who had the final say with his powerful fifth and sixth goals in three matches to further embarrass the club which knocked the Coast out of last season’s finals series.
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