Jets keep finals hopes alive but to their tearful 95th-minute hero, it means so much more

Brandon O’Neill feared he might never feel again after the death of his father Myles. In his own words, he was “my best friend”. But the Newcastle Jets star felt something on Friday night.

O’Neill felt the elation of scoring a stunning 95th-minute winner to keep Newcastle’s Isuzu UTE A-League finals hopes alive in a 2-1 victory over Macarthur FC on Friday night. He was also overcome with emotion post-game.

This was his first goal in Newcastle colours. This was also player, who has spoken to KEEPUP previously about his pursuit of happiness and trying to rejuvenate himself in Newcastle following the family tragedy.

O’NEILL: ‘When dad passed away, football had to take a back seat’

At the end of an absorbing 96 minutes at McDonald Jones Stadium, where Macarthur substitute Bachana Arabuli had cancelled out Matt Jurman’s 79th-minute opener in the second minute of stoppage time, O’Neill was in tears with his family in the stands.

“It means a hell of a lot,” the two-time Championship-winning midfielder told Paramount+ as he became visibly emotional. “For me personally, the last couple of years have been pretty tough.

“There’s been a lot of sacrifice, from my family and from all of us really. To be in this moment now, where something like that pays off and keeps our season alive, I know someone up above will be looking down pretty proud right now.

“We’re people first, and footballers second. We’re so lucky to be able to be paid to do something that we love.

“But family will always be, and is number one. When big life family stuff happens, sometimes football takes a backseat. On the pitch, getting injured, there’s a lot that goes against you.

“I tell you what, for 20 seconds of that, it makes all the hard work worth it.”

After O’Neill took matters into his own hands, the Jets are now level on points with sixth-placed Sydney FC, but adrift on goal difference.

Newcastle, who have not played finals football since reaching the 2017-18 Grand Final, dominated throughout but were almost forced to share the spoils.

After Jurman broke the deadlock with a header 11 minutes from the end, Arabuli was on the end of Craig Noone’s cross to restore parity in the 92nd minute.

However, O’Neill had the final say as he received the ball outside of the penalty area, composed himself and unleashed a thunderous strike past Filip Kurto as the Jets snapped a six-game winless streak.

“When they scored, I thought here we go again. I was just a lucky beneficiary of the right moment and the right moment to keep our season alive,” O’Neill added.

Jets head coach Arthur Papas lapped up O’Neill’s moment of magic and Newcastle’s last-gasp win.

“I had a top view of it,” he told Paramount+. “Just go in mate. We’ve had enough opportunities in the second half to finish the game off earlier.

“Credit to him, because to hit a left-footer like that. Haven’t seen them in training, so he saves them for the games.”

On the match itself and how he was feeling post-game following a chaotic 15 minutes, Papas added: “It’s probably better than the last time we played at home and we lost it in the last minute. We almost did the same today.

“But credit to the boys. I thought we played really well the whole game. A bit of adversity obviously in the last period and took an unbelievable goal from Brandon.

“Just proud of that group. They’ve worked really hard. A lot of setbacks but we’re still alive.”

For Macarthur, it was a sense of Deja Vu.

Last week, the Bulls took a 91st-minute lead against Western Sydney Wanderers, only to concede an equaliser four minutes later.

Now, Macarthur are 11th in the standings and still three points outside of the top six, with Sydney FC yet to play this weekend.

“It really does hurt,” Bulls captain Tomislav Uskok said. “It’s a hard one to take.”

Report – AAP

Brandon O’Neill boosted Newcastle’s  hopes of making the A League Men’s finals and almost certainly extinguished Macarthur FC’s chances with a stunning stoppage-time strike to secure a 2-1 victory.  

O’Neill lashed home an unstoppable shot from outside the penalty area in the sixth minute of added time to snatch the precious win at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday night.

It was a deserved result for Newcastle who had 16 more shots than Macarthur but looked likely to drop two valuable points after Bulls substitute Bachana Arabuli headed an equaliser in the second minute of stoppage time.

Newcastle captain and defender Matt Jurman had opened the scoring in the 79th minute, with a powerful header giving him his first ALM goal since March 2015.

The victory ended Newcastle’s six-match winless streak and moved them up two spots to seventh, just behind Sydney, who retain sixth on goal difference.

Macarthur remained 11th and dropped three points behind Newcastle as they lost a seventh straight away game.

Newcastle had the first six attempts of the game, but lacked precision and penetration in the final third.

The Bulls were barely sighted as an attacking presence in the first half, taking 32 minutes to produce a shot.