Castro stars as Jets of glory on the ground

Castro and Kilkenny allied themselves brilliantly to hold Andy Keogh's 16th-minute first game in a match that started in a 30-degree heat.

And Kilkenny produced a nice curling effort from the edge of the box in the 47th minute to help seal the three points.

Glory came under pressure to score goals after her 0-0 draw against Melbourne City and Adelaide United.

But with Castro back in the starting lineup and total firepower, Glory seemed to be a much more fluid and creative outfit.

The win allowed Glory to take four points ahead of Melbourne Victory, who had beaten Sydney 2-1 earlier in the round.

The Jets, the big finalists last season, have only 15 points in their name, far from fifth place Adelaide and sixth place Wellington, both with 26 points.

Glory coach Tony Popovic had made 19 changes to his home team in the previous four games in an attempt to alternate his players.

And the trend continued against the Jets, with stars like Andy Keogh, Castro and Matthew Spiranovic among the five new players.

Castro and Kilkenny played brilliant roles in Glory's first game.

Kilkenny's lob pin over the Newcastle defense found a running Castro, who perfectly trapped the ball and was fit to shoot – before clearing a skilful pbad with the outside of his left kick then that the guard was closing.

Keogh charging did the rest, placing the ball in the back of the net to send the wild crowd 11,393.

Castro's creativity caused all sorts of headaches in Newcastle's defense, and Glory could easily have gone 3-0 at half-time instead of 1-0.

Kilkenny scored his fourth goal of the season shortly after the break with a hypnotic curling effort.

And Ivan Franjic almost took the advantage 3-0 in the 72nd minute when his long-range shot hit the post and bounced off the goal's face.

The odds for the Jets were few, but the visitors were caught in the 83rd minute when the VAR was called to action to determine whether Spiranovic had committed a handball in the box.

Spiranovic's arms were stuck in his body as he turned to protect himself from a powerful shot by Ronald Vargas. The VAR decided that no penalty should be imposed.