KEY POINTS:
The contests within the A-League race will go down to the wire as the eight teams head into the last two weeks of round-robin play.
Leaders Central Coast Mariners, Queensland Roar and Sydney FC are assured of their play-off spots. Adelaide United need to win their last two games to have a chance of joining them.
The Wellington Phoenix and bottom-placed Perth Glory are out of contention but could still influence who makes it and in which order the top four finish.
In beating Adelaide 2-1 at home, Newcastle Jets moved to within two points of Queensland and Sydney. An away win over the Mariners on Saturday would assure Newcastle of their place and end any faint hopes Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory hold.
The win in Newcastle was also important for Joel Griffiths in the golden boot. In his return from a one-match suspension, Griffiths opened the scoring in the 12th minute to edge back in front of Shane Smeltz as the Phoenix went down 2-0 to Sydney on Friday night. That game, the last at home this season for the Hyundai A-League's newest franchise, continued a remarkable run.
The crowd of 14,288 took their season tally to 116,833 - well ahead of expectations and more than have attended games in Adelaide, Gosford (Central Coast) and Perth.
There was little in it in round 19, with two games decided 2-1. Perth and Central Coast drew 1-1. John Hutchinson gave the league leaders the lead after 38 minutes. Nikita Rukavytsya equalised half an hour later to earn Perth a valuable point which took them within three of the Phoenix as the two franchises separated by the longest distance continue their scrap to avoid the wooden spoon.
Perth are at home to Adelaide and away to Newcastle in their remaining games while the Phoenix are away to Melbourne (on Friday) and Central Coast.
The Phoenix will be without captain Ross Aloisi who was sent off for a reckless challenge in stoppage time just nine minutes after entering the game against Sydney.
The only other red card of the round was also flashed in stoppage time - at the end of the first half - to Adelaide's Fabian Barberio. He will miss Sunday's game in Perth.
Newcastle's James Holland scored the only goal of the second half as the home team beat visiting Adelaide 2-1.
Even the biggest crowd of the season at Suncorp Stadium, 21,475, could not get Queensland home against Melbourne.
Danny Allsopp and Archie Thompson scored within six minutes of each other in the second spell to put the visitors 2-0 ahead. Marchino got one back but the Roar could not find a second which would have been enough to take them to the top of the table.
