Newcastle Jets held by Melbourne Victory

Newcastle Jets have been held to a 2-2 draw by Melbourne Victory at home in the A-League.

All three goals at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle came in the space of four minutes in the first half.

The hosts surged ahead in the 18th minute through Adam Taggart, who latched on to Emile Heskey's through-ball and slammed in from close range.

Victory restored parity three minutes later when Mark Milligan turned in Adrian Leijer's headed pass from inside the home side's penalty box.

However, immediately afterwards Leijer inadvertently put the ball into his own net to make it 2-1 to Jets.

It stayed that way until the 85th minute of the match at Hunter Stadium when visitors Victory earned a penalty.

Milligan stepped up to take the spot kick and made no mistake in putting the ball past Ben Kennedy from 12 yards.

The 2-2 draw means that Clayton Zane's side are now seventh in the league standings with 33 points from 26 matches, while Victory are fifth.