Sung-Hwan Byun, seen here in Sydney FC colours scored the winner for Newcastle in his first competitive game for the Jets

Newcastle Jets grabbed the 3-points in the first contest of the A-league season with a dramatic last-gasp goal against Melbourne Heart at the Ausgrid Stadium. The Jets' Sung-Hwan Byun scored deep into injury time to make it 3-2 and secure all 3 points in the opening match of the A-league season.

Many had expected the Jets inner turmoil to have a significant effect on the team's performance and the early stages of the match suggested this may be the case. The Jets were erratic early on and were punished for their poor play when the Heart took the lead in the 22nd minute as Jason Hoffman made a fine run into the box, cutting the ball back for Dugandzic to slot home. Heart could only hold the lead for 6 minutes though, as Ryan Griffiths curled in a superb free-kick, leaving the keeper motionless. On the stroke of half-time the turnaround was complete as Griffiths grabbed his second of the game to put the Jets 2-1 up after the Melbourne defence was posted missing.

This time it was the Jets turn to relinquish a lead in quick fashion as the Heart equalized in the 51st minute. Melbourne captain Fred produced a tantalising cross from the left wing that took out the goalkeeper and defence, leaving Dugandzic the easy task of slotting home his second of the game on the volley. Both teams looked set for a share of the spoils as the game reached injury-time, but with little time left, Korean Byun hit a weak effort that took a wicked deflection to completely deceive the Melbourne keeper and spin into the unguarded net.

Much is expected of the seventh season of the A-league and the first match of the campaign certainly set the bar high.