Ball watching: Wanderers maestro Shinji Ono. Credit:Getty Images That in turn begs another question, one which must drive everyone at the club, from the front office to the fans, barking mad: how can they be this good and otherwise be so bad? Either way, the result has saved their season, and with six games to play, they have an outside chance of finals football. Repeat showings like this would frank that hope into something tangible. "It was a very disciplined performance and I thought, for large periods, we had good control, especially in the first half," said Jets coach Clayton Zane. "It was a win to stay in touch with the pack and the players knew the importance of it. We've been very good on the road this year, so I knew we'd put a good performance in." As for the Wanderers, their performance was distinctly ordinary, one seemingly affected by their midweek participation in the Asian Champions League. Not so much for the fatigue factor – zero travel was involved – but for the demoralising effects of a resounding defeat.

"From start to finish we were very flat and it was uncharacteristic from us," said Popovic. "I don't know [if the ACL played a part] as we never saw anything in the past few days at training but maybe there was something to look at. It's a new experience for us in the ACL but even the players who didn't play ACL looked flat. You hope they pick it up as the game goes on but it didn't happen." They weren't given much from the terraces, either. The famously active Red and Black Bloc, fuming from being rebuked by authorities for their midweek activity, stayed muted all match. Most of the other 12,079 tried to raise some replacement noise but it simply wasn't the same without the 12th man. The Wanderers made two changes from the side thumped 3-1 by Ulsan Hyundai, with Mateo Poljak stepping in for Iacopo La Rocca and Labinot Haliti taking Brendon Santalab's position at the point of attack. The Jets decided to switch Emile Heskey out of his usual spot as the lone striker to a number 10, giving Adam Taggart a chance to find the second ball. The outcome was prophetic: Heskey played his best game of the year and Taggart scored the sealer. "Emile recognised there was a big hole in there and he was smart enough to go and play in there," Zane said. "The moments he came in and played as an (number) 10, he was a great outlet for us. I was very happy with his performance and to see him get through 90 minutes."

Newcastle might have come into the game as close to double-figure odds with some bookmakers but they didn't play like it in the first half, controlling the tempo. The Wanderers didn't seem too concerned initially, playing on the counter-attack and creating some half-chances that only lacked a touch of good fortune. That said, it was poor finishing Popovic lamented in their ACL game midweek and he must have noted it in his half-time speech. Newcastle's big name forward line – Heskey, Taggart and Joel Griffiths – wasn't short on firepower but, strangely, none of the trio helped open the scoring. Hunter youngster Andrew Hoole, starting on the left of the front third, had the patience to wrong-foot Jerome Polenz and then deliver a brilliant cross that looped over the waiting pack at the near post and onto the temple of Kew Jaliens, who nodded home. Newcastle had a wonderful chance to double their advantage early in the second half when Heskey skewered a ball between the Wanderers' central defensive pairing towards Taggart, who took a good first touch before Covic denied the striker's effort at full stretch.

That should have been taken as a warning by the Wanderers, but, for reasons known only to them, it wasn't. Heskey lobbed another pass in Taggart's direction and the fringe Socceroo fought off Nikolai Topor-Stanley before firing home, aided by a fortunate deflection that sent the ball beyond Ante Covic. When the dust settled at full time, all that could be heard was the small band of Newcastle fans, singing alone in a stadium of silence.