Jets revel as A-League pacesetters

Just a few months ago, Newcastle Jets were the A-League's problem club, with a recalcitrant owner and little prospect for on-field improvement.

Even at half-time on Friday night, 2-0 down and struggling against Melbourne City, the Jets looked like a team still lost in the wilderness

Fast forward 45 minutes and the Jets were a team transformed and top of the league thanks to a Ben Kantarovski's header and a double to Milos Trifinuovic.

Newcastle's 3-2 victory at AAMI Park was stunning by any standard but for a first-season coach in charge of the league's easybeats, it was out of this world.

Now top of the table, coach Scott Miller said nine points from four matches was just reward for a pre-season slog.

"A lot of these players, they've had a challenging 12 months (and) football is there to be enjoyed," he said.

"There's no more enjoyment you get than coming back from 2-0 at half time and winning 3-2.

"Every performance is giving us a great framework to continue our development as a team and rebuilding of the club."

Miller, 34, is the league's youngest coach but showed his astute sense of tactics to swing the match in his team's favour.

Moving the powerfully-built Ben Kantarovski into the No.10 role allowed the Jets to muscle up in attack and hold the ball up more effectively.

Miller said finding a win from their desperate position would only add to his squad's belief.

"I haven't seen a group like this since the early days at Fulham when everyone was on the same page.

"It was more than football, they were friends and they cared for each other - I think that's our strength."

While the Jets are sitting on top of the league for the first time in three years and have matches against the bottom three in the next three weeks, Miller isn't getting carried away.

"Maybe it's my Scottish blood but there's always something around the corner," he said.

"That's not fear but it's realism and that's football."