Now, it’d be a lie to say that the Wellington Phoenix dominated this game and thoroughly earned the three points. In reality the Jets were probably on the plane back home feeling like they let one slip. There was Jair’s sliced chance in the first half. Matt Ridenton had a couple shots where he showed that his finishing hasn’t improved too much from last season (but enjoyable to see him in a team with more of a passing focus, dishing that ball around in the midfield – he could have a really good season in Newcastle), Filip Kurto made one wonderful save from Hoffman and Petratos went close once or twice. Even when the first goal came it hadn’t really looked like the Nix were creating much of any major note and then they go and score from an own goal off a header back across the box off a set piece. Sweet as, take ‘em any way they come. But yes, not a resounding victory.

The second goal didn’t come until late, although they almost bagged it a little earlier in an odd sequence where Roy Krishna didn’t pull the trigger, slid the ball over at the second attempt to David Williams, who shanked his shot, but then Sarpreet Singh bundled it in… except it hit his hand and was disallowed. Probably fair enough, it was completely accidental and never worth the yellow card he was given but it was an advantageous little shimmy of the arm that did it. You know what they say though: the VAR giveth and the VAR taketh away. That one was taken away but a late penalty was given. Mitch Nichols bowled over in the box and there’ll be plenty of yarns about the video refs in the A-League this week but end result is that Roy Krishna missed his spotty then slipped it away at the second attempt.

Nix being the Nix, they couldn’t hold onto a clean sheet that their defence certainly deserved. There are issues with the back three, the biggest being a lack of pace. But they were excellent in this game, rarely ever out of position, especially in a more impressive second half from the Nix as a team. A few miscommunications in the first half yet those things should come with familiarity.

Nah, there’s a lot to like about the team that conceded the most goals in the league last season. Steven Taylor looks a proper leader. Tom Doyle is getting more and more reliable in that LCB role. And this extends to Filip Kurto as well who didn’t get tested excessively however he also didn’t put a hand or foot wrong all game. He looks reliable and that’s a huge relief given the goalkeeping stakes since... I mean, more or less since Glen Moss left – Mossy having a decent game in goal for the Jets here, saving a penalty and working hard with those aerial set pieces.

The Nix look like a team that’ll put a huge priority on set pieces. Corners and swinging free kicks… they’ve got guys that can get up for them and Steven Taylor is one of them. He’ll be a factor. It’s one more example of Rudan prioritising those things that he can control, putting fate back in his club’s own hands.

There were also great performances from Mandi and David Williams, though Alex Rufer is lacking the polish of the better midfielders in this league. He gets around defensively, that’s not a problem, but with the ball at his feet his decision making and technical execution needs some work. Great to see him trusted to do a job though and he could be a breakout dude with a manager that believes in him (remember when Anthony Hudson picked him for the All Whites from out of the reserves?). Similarly there’s a bit of a worry about Fenton’s pace and defensive positioning – lucky here that most of the Jets stuff came down the middle or over the other side where Doyle and Cacace did good things.

Again, this was not a fluent performance. Mitch Nichols coughed up the ball in the Newcastle half after the second goal and the Jets still flowed forward on the counter to make it 2-1, pace and space leading to vulnerabilities. Newcastle could have scored a couple more if they were in midseason form themselves while the Nix did nothing to suggest they’ll be scoring at will this campaign, nope they’re still over-reliant on that front three to do everything (unless the set piece weaponry really takes off).