Newcastle Jets 2-2 Wellington Phoenix

Defending A-League champions Newcastle had to settle for a draw after Shane Smeltz’s late penalty allowed Wellington to equalise at the Energy Australia Stadium.

Wellington, who beat Sydney 2-1 last week, took the lead through Smeltz’s 52nd minute penalty after Daniel Piorkowski produced a clumsy challenge to stop Vaughan Coveny.

Tarek Elrich equalised for Newcastle with a 20 metre strike seven minutes later, and Kaz Patafta put the Jets ahead in the 68th minute.

Just as it seemed that Newcastle were going to win, Matt Thompson’s challenge on Leilei Gao saw Craig Zetter point to the spot, and Smeltz duly converted to score his sixth league goal.

Weird as it may sound, Newcastle United in England drew 2-2 in their Premiership fixture too-against Everton.

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