It wasn’t the winning feeling he was hoping for after three weeks of turmoil, but Newcastle coach Phil Stubbins was more than satisfied with a 1-1 draw against Western Sydney Wanderers at Hunter Stadium on Saturday.
The Jets stayed off the bottom of the A-League ladder thanks to an injury-time penalty taken by Korean recruit Lee Ki-je after a handball from Antony Golec.
The Wanderers, who are one point behind Newcastle in last place but have two games in hand, went ahead from their own penalty, the spot kick given for an unlucky handball from Jets defender Daniel Mullen in the 85th minute.
Against his former club, Mullen back-heeled the ball onto his arm, giving substitute Brendon Santalab a chance from the spot which he converted with a cheeky chip to the right of keeper Ben Kennedy.
The Wanderers looked the more dangerous side throughout the game and appeared set to score a deserved win before Golec handled a shot on target from Nick Cowburn in the 92nd minute.
Lee, in his first start and second appearance for Newcastle, converted the penalty with a crisp left-foot strike.
The draw, in front of a crowd of 11,019, was a much-needed boost for Newcastle, who conceded an own goal last week in injury time to lose 2-1 to Brisbane after a fortnight of drama.
Following a 7-0 loss to Adelaide and a player revolt against Stubbins, five senior players and three staff were sacked by Jets owner Nathan Tinkler, who has been issued a show-cause notice by Football Federation Australia over his management of the embattled club.
Stubbins praised his weakened and young side’s effort to scrounge out a draw with the Asian club champions and said it was reward for the group remaining positive despite the recent upheaval. “I’m extremely happy for the group,” Stubbins said.
“Obviously Tony [Popovic] has got a terrific team there on paper, a great team on paper, so for us to come back like we did, certainly with the youth we had on the pitch, is fantastic for everybody.
“I think it’s an indication to the supporters that we’re trying to get people on board who want to play in the right way for us in terms of having a crack.
“Then to score the goal at the end like we did, the group was fantastic to do that. It’s a credit to them that they came back and found a way to get a result.”
The result was a blow for the Wanderers, who created the bulk of chances in the round 17 match but remain without an away win in eight attempts this season.
“Second half we certainly dominated and should have been up by two or three goals before we got the penalty,” Wanderers coach Tony Popovic said.
“In the end, unfortunately, we couldn’t see it out.
“We were so close to getting that first win today and second half was a dominant display, we deserved that.
“But when you are not up by two or three, the ball can bounce around and things can happen, so we’ve got to be a bit more ruthless in putting teams away when we have the opportunities.”
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