JETS coach Rob Stanton has paid tribute to Apostolos Stamatelopoulos after the striker equalled the club record for most goals in a season with another quality finish in Saturday's 2-0 win against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium.
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Stamatelopoulos struck with a header after a Kosta Grozos free kick in the 63rd minute, which followed young tyro Clayton Taylor's opener 10 minutes earlier.
It was the 16th goal of the season for Stamatelopoulos, lifting him level with Adam Taggart's landmark, which earned the Socceroo the A-League's Golden Boot award a decade ago.
Stamatelopoulos now has two games to beat Taggart's record and sits two goals behind the A-League's leading scorer this season, Melbourne City's Bruno Fornaroli.
Stanton said the 25-year-old's success was "a reflection of the hard work he continuously puts in" on the training pitch.
"Because of what he's done, it's become contagious," Stanton said.
"It's a leadership quality there. On the pitch, I've given him the armband at the moment, he's enjoying that and he's leading from the front - and everyone's following suit.
"He's only just turned 25 now, so he's still relatively young, but is showing strong leadership and so are a few of the other boys I think. I'm really proud of them."
Stanton joked that Stamatelopoulos was so desperate for success that he constantly "pesters" the coaching staff for video analysis to improve his game.
It was Newcastle's second consecutive win, following last week's 3-1 upset against Sydney, and effectively killed Brisbane's slim finals hopes.
It was also Newcastle's first win on the road in nine attempts this season.
The result lifted the Jets to 27 points, five points clear of Western United and Perth Glory, in the race to avoid the wooden spoon.
As speculation mounts surrounding the club's future, the Jets have strung together a three-game unbeaten run. They now have home games remaining against competition heavyweights Wellington and Central Coast, and will be hoping to finish a tough campaign in positive fashion.
For Brisbane, meanwhile, it was a mortal blow to their finals aspirations.
With two games to play, they are five points adrift of the top six and would need a miracle to scrape into the play-offs.
It will be the third consecutive season Brisbane have failed to play finals football.
The result continued Newcastle's remarkable dominance at Suncorp, where their record is 14 wins, three draws and four losses.
