{"id":2797,"date":"2025-12-24T08:01:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T08:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/?p=2797"},"modified":"2026-01-13T07:30:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:30:33","slug":"boxing-day-showdown-newcastle-jets-vs-macarthur-bulls-who-will-break-into-the-top-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/boxing-day-showdown-newcastle-jets-vs-macarthur-bulls-who-will-break-into-the-top-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing Day Showdown: Newcastle Jets vs Macarthur Bulls \u2013 Who Will Break Into the Top Four?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Match Details<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Fixture:<\/strong> Newcastle Jets vs Macarthur Bulls<br \/>\n<strong>Date:<\/strong> Friday, December 26<br \/>\n<strong>Venue:<\/strong> McDonald Jones Stadium<br \/>\n<strong>Kick-off:<\/strong> 7:35pm AEDT<br \/>\n<strong>Watch Live:<\/strong> Stream on SPOTV NOW<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Current Standings<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Newcastle Jets: 6th<\/li>\n<li>Macarthur Bulls: 7th<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Recent Results<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Newcastle Jets: 2-0 win vs Sydney FC (H)<\/li>\n<li>Macarthur Bulls: 1-1 draw vs Melbourne City (A)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Mark Milligan\u2019s Newcastle Jets head into this Boxing Day clash brimming with confidence after a statement 2-0 victory over Sydney FC last weekend. The Jets stunned the title contenders thanks to second-half goals from teenage sensation Will Dobson (18) and rising star Xavier Bertoncello (20).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SdMlXCsNEy8?si=lVHvmxXLFFG0EBSS\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>That performance also delivered Newcastle\u2019s first clean sheet of the season\u2014a timely boost for their defensive unit.<\/p>\n<p>Macarthur, meanwhile, have shown resilience in a packed schedule. A brace of penalties from towering striker Harry Sawyer secured a 2-1 win over Brisbane in Round 9, before the Bulls battled to a hard-earned 1-1 draw away to Melbourne City on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>With the table tightly congested, three points here could propel either side into the top four\u2014provided other results fall their way.<\/p>\n<p>For Macarthur, the festive period is relentless. This clash marks the second of three consecutive away fixtures, a challenge compounded by their commitments in both the A-League and Asian Champions League Two. Midfielder Kristian Popovic, speaking ahead of the trip to Newcastle, insists the squad is ready for the quick turnaround.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s quite normal now. Every three or four days we\u2019re playing games, and the team is really fit and strong, so we\u2019re ready for Friday,\u201d Popovic said. \u201cThe main focus should be on us and how we can get the three points. I\u2019m sure it will be a great game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With both sides eyeing a surge up the ladder, expect intensity, drama, and plenty of festive fireworks under the lights at McDonald Jones Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Match Details Fixture: Newcastle Jets vs Macarthur Bulls Date: Friday, December 26 Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium Kick-off: 7:35pm AEDT Watch Live: Stream on SPOTV NOW Current Standings Newcastle Jets: 6th Macarthur Bulls: 7th Recent Results Newcastle Jets: 2-0 win vs Sydney FC (H) Macarthur Bulls: 1-1 draw vs Melbourne City (A) Mark Milligan\u2019s Newcastle Jets &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/boxing-day-showdown-newcastle-jets-vs-macarthur-bulls-who-will-break-into-the-top-four\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Boxing Day Showdown: Newcastle Jets vs Macarthur Bulls \u2013 Who Will Break Into the Top Four?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[127],"class_list":["post-2797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2799,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions\/2799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}