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The Wanderers travelled to Newcastle along with a large away supporter contingent as the Red & Black looked to secure finals football with a draw or win, and they picked up the victory with a goal from Zac Sapsford that came from a bad error at the back from the Jets defensive unit.

Josh Brillante returned to the line-up after his short injury lay-off with Dean Pelekanos left out of the squad entirely to make room. The other change was Zac Sapsford being dropped to the bench following his 6th match without a goal, Aydan Hammond earning his first start in over a month in his place. There were reports in the media that attacker Nicolas Milanovic would be on his way out of the club at seasons end with a reported $800,000 transfer sale to Scottish side Aberdeen.

The Wanderers had a bright start, with Milanovic attempting an audacious bicycle kick but his ambition didn't match his technique, Borrello had a deflected shot that became a throw but the Jets found a counter-attack that caused Oscar Priestman to give away a foul and a yellow card to stop a potential overload. The remove of Sapsford caused a tactical shuffle with Milanovic playing up front, Hammond on the wing with Borrello and Bozhidar Kraev rotating between the left wing and the central attacking midfield role.

The former Wanderer fullback Thomas Aqulina produced a cross in the 10th minute that had Anthony Pantazopoulos at full stretch to ensure it wouldn't reach Lachie Rose at the back post, and the corner went over the top of everyone and out for a throw on the far side. Borrello produced a great through ball for Milanovic, piercing the defence and giving Milanovic a first time shot on his left that Ryan Scott was well positioned for and saved easily. Milanovic had another chance moments later from a cross, the ball seemed to take a touch on the way through and it was enough to drop it down at chest height and stop Milanovic getting power & direction.

Pantazopoulos got himself in the right place once against as Eli Adams & Kota Mizunuma combined with some tricks & flicks to find space for a blocked cross. In the 27th minute the Wanderers put together a long sequence of passing that ended with Hammond taking a shot on the right that took a bobble and launched into the fans behind the goal. Pantazopoulos then got himself in the referees notebook by pulling down Rose on halfway when he had cover defence coming across to claim the ball. Milanovic continued his strong work with a right flank attack that needed Scott to save at the near post for a corner that Milanovic was once again involved with beating Mizunuma at the back post but not able to power it toward goal. The visitors continued to pile on the pressure with a high turnover, Hammond winning a wide free kick from Clayton Taylor. Alex Gersbach wasted the FK, blazing it over everyone for a goal kick. Pantazopoulos got himself into trouble in the 38th minute after he let the ball bounce over his head for Rose, the second bounce was just too high for Rose to shoot on goal before Pantazopoulos came flying in from the rear to clear the ball away from danger.

In the final minute both teams had long range strikes, Milanovic once again failed to find the target and central defender Aleksandar Susnjar strode forward into the Wanderers half and fired into the crowd from 30 yards out. The Wanderers had the better of the game, more possession and shots but couldn't find the final ball to take the lead. Alen Stajcic made an immediate change at half-time, bringing on Jarrod Carluccio for Gabriel Cleur and Zac Sapsford for Hammond.

Borrello had a glorious chance to make it 1-0 seconds after the break, Gersbach was in open space on the left wing, he fired into Borrello on the penalty spot who took a touch to bring it back around only to fire it well wide of goal.

The game was broken open by a horrendous error at the back from the Newcastle Jets defenders, a horrible giveaway by Aquilina who failed to find Grozos with a 10 meter pass, it left Grozos alone with Borrello & Sapsford, neither made a mistake looking the gift horse in the mouth with Sapsford finding the back of the net with Scott having no chance. His first goal in 7 games and the half-time sub justified from Stajcic. Daniel Wilmering went flying into the back of Milanovic, flattening the Wanderer and being the first Jets player on a booking.

Mizunuma forced a good save out of Lawrence Thomas in the 66th minute, the Wanderers playing around in midfield instead of driving forward and gave it away. 20 minutes from full time Sapsford should have had a second, fancy footwork from Borrello made room for a Gersbach cross along the ground but Sapsford got his feet in a tangle as the ball was slightly behind him, it was just enough to cut the power down for Scott to make the save.

Rose should have had the equaliser in the 72nd minute, a failure to clear the ball by Pantazopoulos and Brillante let Eli Adams have the ball on the by-line and his cutback found Rose and at short range his shot was the wrong side of the post.

The drama continued at the other end with Susnjar clearly dragging down Sapsford to stop the striker running clean through on goal. Inexplicably the referee saw it not as denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and pulled out a yellow card. The VAR as typical for fouls on the Wanderers, declined to intervene to correct the obvious error and the Jets continued with their full complement. Stajcic made a pair of changes with 10 to go, Borrello ended his enthusiastic night with Antonsson on to play up front, and Juan Mata on for Brillante to keep control in the midfield. The Jets responded with Rose & Taylor off for Dane Ingham and Ben Gibson. Ingham's first involvement was a sliding tackle from behind into the feet of Gersbach and being booked for it.

A typical 4 minutes of stoppage time flashed up with the Jets pushing for an equaliser, the Wanderers unable to hold onto the ball or create a clear cut chance to seal the win. Bayliss created a chance for Ingham but his cross was woeful. Stajcic made a final time wasting sub with Mo Al-Taay for Priestman. The Jets threw the kitchen sink in the final seconds, with the keeper Ryan Scott going up for a late corner, but they couldn't get what might have been described as a well earned point, the Wanderers holding on for the 1-0 win, all three points, their finals placed locked in and a provisional 3rd place on the A-League ladder.

The Wanderers next match is the final game of the regular season, against Macarthur FC in Campbelltown on Saturday the 3rd of May with kick-off at 7:35.