{"id":616830,"date":"2026-04-19T09:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T09:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616830\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T09:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T09:35:10","slug":"newcastle-jets-claim-maiden-a-league-mens-premiership-after-central-coast-shocks-auckland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616830\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcastle Jets claim maiden A-League Men’s premiership after Central Coast shocks Auckland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Newcastle Jets have secured a maiden A-League premiership following a shock home loss for second-placed Auckland FC.<\/p>\n

A 19th-minute sucker-punch goal from Ali Auglah was enough for the Central Coast Mariners to shake up the championship race with a 1-0 victory away to Auckland on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The defeat leaves the New Zealanders unable to bridge a four-point gap to the Jets in next weekend’s final round.<\/p>\n

Auckland’s top-two spot is also suddenly vulnerable. Sydney FC could snatch second position with a three-goal win over the Black Knights at Sydney Football Stadium next Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Jets, though, will be overjoyed and lap up being presented the Premier’s Plate after Saturday’s F3 derby against their arch rivals the Mariners in Newcastle.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Auckland’s loss means Newcastle can no longer be caught at the top of the table. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone)<\/p>\n

Sunday’s high-stakes encounter erupted in the 13th minute when Central Coast defender James Donachie was yellow-carded for unnecessarily treading on Auckland striker Sam Cosgrove after the pair collided in a mid-air challenge.<\/p>\n

Officials deliberated over replays for several minutes before opting against issuing a red card, saying they could not be certain Donachie’s reckless act was intentional.<\/p>\n

For now, the Jets have the ninth-placed and out-of-contention Mariners to thank for fashioning one of the upsets of the season, a first-ever win over Auckland no less.<\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n

Adding to Auckland’s anguish, the Mariners defied an alarming lack of possession to mount a sweeping counter-attack that ended with Auglah putting away a sumptuous through-ball from Nathanael Blair and taking a shock lead.<\/p>\n

Teenage midfielder Jessie Mantell skilfully initiated the attack, winning possession then setting Blair free down the left.<\/p>\n

Days after committing to Iraq, Auglah’s third goal in four games further enhanced his claims for a call-up from Graham Arnold for the looming World Cup.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Auckland needed to win from 1-0 down for the first time all season to keep alive its hopes of snatching the Premier’s Plate from the Jets.<\/p>\n

Do you have a story idea about women in sport?<\/p>\n

Email us abcsport5050@your.abc.net.au<\/a><\/p>\n

And it couldn’t.<\/p>\n

The Black Knights’ frustrations boiled over when Lachie Brook was booked for dissent, the midfielder furious about not earning a throw-in deep in attack.<\/p>\n

It was the second week in a row Brook had been yellow-carded for an over-reaction and he’s walking a tightrope ahead of the finals.<\/p>\n

If there wasn’t enough thunder and lightning on the pitch already, players were forced off the field 10 minutes before halftime as a storm lashed Mount Smart Stadium.<\/p>\n

Auckland emerged from the 30-minute stoppage energised and refocused \u2014 but they could not find an equaliser.<\/p>\n

Former Socceroos goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne was called on to save numerous shots on target but it was Donachie’s miraculous goal-line intervention of a 68th-minute Brook header that best symbolised the Mariners’s spirited defence.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Newcastle Jets have secured a maiden A-League premiership following a shock home loss for second-placed Auckland FC.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[32406,299247,64,67092,63,85324,596,10668,66663,299245,100418,299246,13198,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-616830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-a-league","9":"tag-a-league-mens","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-auckland-fc","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-central-coast-mariners","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-newcastle","16":"tag-newcastle-jets","17":"tag-newy","18":"tag-premiers","19":"tag-premiers-plate","20":"tag-soccer","21":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}