“It was a good result by the boys,” says footballer Ben Kantarovski, who adds, “Newcastle Jets are back, watch out!”

A dejected Patrick Kisnorbo says, “We know there’s a lot to work on for next week.”

90+2 min: Gameiro looks to beat Birighitti with a long-range strike, but the Jets keeper is equal to it.

90 min: Four minutes of added time is signalled by the fourth official and there is still time for City to rescue something from this one.

89 min: Oh dear, Dekker, who’s not been too great since coming on tonight, is played through by Mooy but his effort hits the side netting. Cue enormous ear bashing from Fornaroli, and the Uruguayan probably has a point.

88 min: What a comeback. Did I say that before?

87 min: Newcastle are just playing the ball around now, keeping it from City and looking to run the clock down. What a comeback.

86 min: There were a few boos after the Jets’ third went in. Just so you know, there are a few disgruntled City fans out there tonight.

85 min: Fornaroli! No, the Uruguayan, who has also faded badly this half, sees his effort go straight into the belly of Birighitti, who falls on the ball just to make sure he doesn’t spill it.

84 min: Birighitti now goes into the book, as Mooy (yes, he’s still on the pitch) lines up a free-kick. In keeping with the general way things are panning out at the moment, his attempted delivery into the box sails well over everyone’s heads and out for a goal kick.

82 min: If the Jets can emerge from this encounter with all three points, Scott Miller has to take a lot of the credit. His side emerged from his team talk at the break a different side, and the way they took the game to their hosts in those opening moments of the second half is what changed the complexion of this match.

80 min: Trifunovic has his name taken for taking off his shirt during his celebrations (again, why do that?), but it doesn’t look like he’s too bothered. Newcastle are in front! A really amazing comeback but can they now hang on to that lead?

78 min: And now Gameiro goes into the book for a ill-conceived challenge. It’s all going wrong for City at the moment.

76 min: What a chance for the Jets to go ahead! Trifunovic falls into a header from Carney’s dinked ball over the top, but it’s straight at Sorensen’s big hands! Carney is denied on the follow-up by a monster of a challenge by Kisnorbo!

75 min: Melling off for City, Millar on as the hosts seek to shake off this funk they seem to have fallen into since the break.

72 min: Penalty to the Jets! The assistant referee gives it for handball by Dekker and Newcastle can level things up from the spot!

70 min: Twenty minutes left and Newcastle have a corner, which Carney takes... straight into the big hands of Sorensen (he really does appear have enormous hands, which is handy for a keeper. It could, of course, just be extra padding in his gloves, would be good to find out for sure. Has anyone seen Sorensen’s naked hands?)

68 min: Here’s sometime Guardian Australia hack John Davidson with some unnecessary details following a botched effort at a volley by Trifunovic.

65 min: Phil Withall brings his tally of communication devices used to two for the evening by emailing in to admit he is beginning to feel like a stalker. That’s OK Phil. “There really does seem to be a feeling that the FFA are using the Oceania thing as an excuse to push an unrelated agenda,” he says. “The, so called, new football revolution is rapidly heading the way of the the system it was supposed to replace. I admire the efforts that have gone into the A-League yet feel that there is a set agenda that they have focused on and nothing is going to stop them from heading down that way. They have lost the good will of so many and seriously misread the feelings of the fans.” Not much wrong with that statement.

63 min: Oh dear, why on earth do players do that? Carney is booked after throwing the ball away in frustration at a decision.

62 min: And already, there’s a bit more energy in the contest out there. We could be in for an exciting final half hour or so.

60 min: City go close to re-establishing their two-goal lead as Fornaroli twists and turns in the Jets box before getting off a shot which is repelled by Sorensen! City can’t make anything of the follow up and Newcastle breathe again, for now.

59 min: Well, well, well. Think we have a game on our hands now.

56 min: This game desperately needs a Jets goal. City have looked lethargic since the restart and to be honest, there’s not much going on.

55 min: Kuzmanovski and Williams are both hauled off, replaced by Wade Decker and Corey Gameiro as Van ‘t Schip looks to give his side a bit of new energy.

51 min: Time now perhaps to mull over the Wellington Phoenix situation. Here’s what Paul Connolly thought in his Friday Focus piece:

For all those acknowledging the strangeness of having a New Zealand team (one from a different confederation, no less) in an Australian league there appears to be many more who see that the cost of rectifying this anomaly is too great; perhaps even morally questionable, insofar as morals and big business can ever be used in the same sentence. One can argue that a New Zealand team should never have been invited in the first place into the nascent A-League back in 2005 but invited they were, out of necessity. So to then dispense of them (albeit a different club), particularly one that is solvent and performing well on the field, looks more than a little callous.

Read the whole Friday Focus article here.

50 min: Newcastle have actually started the second period in promising fashion. An early goal this half for them would entirely change the complexion of this game.

48 min: Nice stat, courtesy of Brenton Speed : five offside calls have been made tonight – all of them against the Jets.

47 min: Oh, there’s been one change at the break – Cooper is off, and the No6, Cameron Watson, is on.

45 min: Just a minute of added time to be played at the end of this first half, and then we can all take a breather.

43 min: The intrepid touchline reporter informs us that Miller “expressed some displeasure with the referee”, and that’s why he got a warning from the referee. Thanks for that.

42 min: Looks like the pressure of being two down is beginning to get the better of Jets coach Scott Miller, who is spoken to by the ref after saying something out of turn on the sidelines.

41 min: Kantarovski becomes the third player this evening to go into referee Gillet’s notebook. And, as with the earlier two, he thoroughly deserves it, for a high boot on Williams.

39 min: Shades of champagne football here from City as they attempt to piece together a one-touch passing move on the edge of the Jets’ box. Ten out of 10 for effort, but the execution is slightly lacking this time and the move breaks down soon enough.

37 min: Anyway, there is a football match going on here. Carney leaps like a slightly balding, tattooed salmon but can’t direct his back-post header on target. The Jets are showing signs of recovery, but they’re lacking a cutting edge up front.

35 min: Thank goodness for that, Phil has cleared up that Mooy pun earlier. (Googles Andrea True Connection, shocked to find out one of Andrea’s other professions.)

33 min: They’re just showing a replay of a great cross into the City box by Lee Ki-Je, which I must have missed. A Newcastle shirt was unable to get on the end of it, anyway, so no major dramas.

30 min: Well, half an hour gone of this Friday night festival of football (sort of) and City are well in command. “Well in command”? Is it possible to be slightly in command? Anyway, you get the picture, they’re on top and Newcastle will struggle to get back into this one now.

29 min: Ooh! Williams’s first touch is perfect as he fashions a chance to shoot. The City striker hits it well enough, but it flies just the wrong side of the post.

27 min: Newcastle look to hit back straight away but when Carney has a chance to get a first-time strike on target away, he instead opts to dink a ball across into a crowded penalty area. Odd decision.

So odd, it has prompted Padraig Collins to get in touch. “Did it fall to his right foot?” asks the casual Guardian sub editor. “He is the most one-footed player I’ve ever seen. Brilliant with his left, rubbish with his right. That’s why he’s had so many clubs, I reckon.”

26 min: Kuzmanovski now goes into the book for a tug on a Newcastle shirt. That’s a booking if there ever was one.

25 min: City win a free-kick now in what is know as “Aaron Mooy range” and there could be real danger here... No, no, Mooy skies his effort over the bar, and as Andy Harper says in commentary, it was probably a bit too close in to get the ball up over the wall and down again in time.

23 min: That really was nice to watch – City simply carved up Newcastle’s defence there with a series of neat one-twos, Williams playing the final killer pass through to the marauding Mauk.

19 min: Chance for Newcastle! It’s a bit similar to Fornaroli’s earlier opportunity as a corner reaches a seemingly surprised Boogaard at the back stick and he can only direct his header wide of the mark. That should have been the equaliser.

17 min: Phil Withall has been in touch in Twitter. I’ll be honest, I need that one explaining to me, Phil. It’s been a long day.

15 min: Just to clarify (or, indeed, state for the first time), Mooy’s deflected goal came off Hoffman. He’s had a shocking couple of minutes.

14 min: Hoffman goes into the book as the first slice of American cheese is brandished on the night, for a clumsy challenge on that man Mooy.

13 min: Is City’s lead deserved? Probably. They’ve had the better of the opening exchanges.

10 min: Poljak is pulled up for a wild-ish challenge in the middle of the park. Free-kick to City and they can build an attack now.

8 min: Ever wondered how to draw a spider? Me neither, but now is as good a time as any to contemplate it.

6 min: And now it’s the Jets’ turn to go on the front foot. Nothing comes of their foray forward this time though. As I mentioned earlier, there is no shortage of free seats at AAMI Park tonight, although it has filled out a little more since the last update.

4 min: Well, for all the talk of a tight encounter, we’ve had a chance at either end within the opening four minutes.

3 min: Oooh! That should have been the opener! Mooy’s second corner finds an unmarked Fornaroli all alone at the back stick but the Uruguayan conspires to nod over the bar. Not sure exactly how he managed to do that, but he did, and it remains goalless.

2 min: Fornaroli gives an indication of the danger he poses now as Mauk plays him in and a little shimmy later he lets off a shot that is deflected behind for a corner!

1 min: Oh dear, straight from the kick-off, City’s back line is sprung by Carney who latches onto a long ball forward. Nothing comes of it, but there should serve as an early wake-up call for the hosts.

Melbourne is doing that thing it does occasionally, producing a gorgeous purpley, pinky sunset, which always seems to look even better when contrasted against the green of AAMI Park’s seats. And here come the teams to a tune of Fatboy Slim’s Right Here, Right Now. Pumped!

Jets players have finished their warm-ups and are heading back into the sheds, and they are swiftly followed by the home side. Not long to wait now. The experts on the telly are pretty much unanimously backing City to win tonight, and I have to agree. With Leonardo out, and considering City’s home form, Newcastle may well struggle. But making predictions, as we all know, is a mug’s game. And we all may have egg on our faces in about two hours’ time.

Tell you what, Thomas Sorensen has bags full of personality. The Dane is being interviewed now by Tara Rushden. We’re about two minutes in, and he’s yet to break his ‘serious’ face.

Asked what made him consider the A-League, he says, “Melbourne City’s interest in him”, which is rather revealing. And then, finally, a laugh, when he consideres what his favourite Australian food is. (Apologies, I didn’t catch what his answer was, amid all the guffaws.)

Hardly a record breaking crowd brewing at AAMI Park tonight. As Ivan Franjic is interviewed by the Fox people on the telly (he’s just revealed he doesn’t want to ever have to go back to his previous life as a carpenter), there are plenty of green seats to be seen in the background. Twenty minutes to go to kick-off.

So Mark Birighitti returns for Newcastle in between the sticks after his horror facial injuries two weeks ago. Want to know where his tooth ended up? Look closely at this David Squires cartoon:

Mike will be along shortly in advance of the 7:40pm kick-off. In the meantime, here’s the latest in the war on pyrotechnics in the A-League: