On Sunday, Thurgate delivered, scoring the winner in 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park to propel the Jets into the top six.

It looked like being a frustrating night for the visitors, who had two strong claims for penalties turned down by referee Kurt Ams and the VAR.

Enter Thurgate in the 71^st minute.

He was set up brilliantly by Valentino Yuel, who shaped to shoot and then played Thurgate into space on the edge of the box. The Oyroo did the rest, angling a low drive inside the left post.

It was the perfect way for the Port Macquarie-product to mark his 50^th A-League appearance for the Jets

"I'm very happy for Gus - 50 A-League games. One is difficult to achieve, " Deans said. "It was nice for him to score a goal. That is one thing he needs to add to his game.

"He could have had three or four this year. He had a header which hit the post against City and he has gotten into good positions in other games and hasn't taken an opportunity.

"We work with him every day. He is probably sick of me talking about it. He needs to be more aggressive with the ball and back himself a bit more and put himself in more dangerous situations like he did tonight."

Incredibly, after losing their opening four games, the Jets are now unbeaten in the past five and sit on sixth spot on 11 points.

"I am pleased for the players," Deans said. "It was another strong effort defensively and we were a lit bit better than last week in terms of creating chances. We just want to keep winning games and moving up the table.

"To beat Victory is a huge pat on the back for our players. Each week you build and you want to improve on the areas where you don't think you were good enough.

"That is the third clean sheet in a row and that was something we needed to address after the first four games. Again credit to the players, their attitude and ability to take things on board has been excellent."

Jets wingback Connor O'Toole was lucky not to suffer serious damage in the 28^th minute when he collected a high boot in the face from Storm Roux, who was given a yellow.

O'Toole was at full pace chasing a ball over the top. Roux, with no thought for O'Toole's safety, swung his leg up and struck the Jets player under the chin.

Fox Sports commentators spoke at half-time to A-League head of referee Strebre Delovski, who said Ams' decision was correct. However, had Roux's studs hit the face of O'Toole the card would have been red.

Jets striker Roy O'Donovan was sent off and subsequently suspended for 10 games after a similar incident against Melbourne Victory in the 2018 grand final.

"Roy had an issue in the grand final three years ago with something like that," Deans said. "It is a little bit inconsistent and grey around some of the rulings. That is the frustration that coaches and players feel. The game is getting more difficult when it doesn't need to be."

The Jets had a strong claim for a penalty turned down in the 55^th minute when an attempted clearance by Leigh Broxham ricocheted up into his arm but Ams and the VAR waved play-on.

Deans introduced Luka Prso for Najjarine with half an hour remaining and the young midfielder thought he had won a penalty two minutes later when he was chopped down by Jacob Butterfield. Again Ams and the VAR ruled there was no indiscretion.

"Luka's one, for me it's a penalty." Deans said. "Again we are talking about the referee and VAR, we should be talking about footballers. That's my frustration."

Deans gave Archie Goodwin an A-League debut with seven minutes to go and the 16-year-old nearly scored, denied by a finger-tip save from Crocombe.

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