The Newcastle Jets have defeated the Brisbane Roar 1-nil at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
The Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets secured their first away win of the season with a spirited 1-0 victory over the Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
The Jets scored midway through the first half and held out a determined Brisbane Roar outfit, who held over 60 per cent of possession, to keep a clean sheet.
The Roar was enthusiastic from the outset but it was the Jets who created the best chances in front of goal early.
After sitting in and around the Jets penalty area for the opening exchanges, a counter attack which led to a great ball from Englishmen Francis Jeffers finding Jacob Pepper in space almost created the opener, the youngsters shot looked destined for the bottom corner before being tipped away for a corner on seven minutes.
Newcastle continued to threaten the Roar goal as Jeffers sent in a powerful shot of his own just minutes later that Brisbane goal keeper Michael Theoklitos could only parry away.
Pepper was in the thick of the action again winning a free kick for his side on 23 minutes, and that would prove to be crucial as Jobe Wheelhouse scored his second goal in as many games as he finished calmly beneath the body of Theoklitos after a nice passing exchange with Ben Kantarovski.
Brisbane Roar fought hard to find an equaliser before the break, but Newcastle-s defence held strong to limit their chances with Nikolai Topor-Stanley thwarting a number of Roar attempts in the final minutes.
Newcastle came out after the break to create a chance in the opening minute to almost extend their lead, but Jets striker Ryan Griffiths was unable to get his shot past Theoklitos as the Roar survived an early scare.
Both sides made a double substitution with twenty five minutes remaining with Michael Bridges and Jeremy Brockie making their first appearance in the match. It was the Roar who almost made an immediate impact but Mitch Nichols sent his final shot over the cross bar from close range.
Brisbane continued to pressure the Jets defence and Thomas Broich had his shot deflected for a corner with some good defending from Tiago Calvano with less than ten minutes remaining.
The Jets have lost only once in 10 outings in Brisbane.
“It was a hard game for both sides but coming out with a win is really exciting,” Kantarovski said after the game.
“The team enjoy playing on this field, it really suits our style of play.
“Coming after our draw against Adelaide everyone was up for the match and played hard.
“The next four games are critical to our season and we’ll hopefully come away with wins from them.”
Coach Gary van Egmond was pleased with the team’s effort.
“It was fantastic, the boys really dug deep in the second half, and it-s been a real team and squad effort,” he said.
“Brisbane are a wonderful team, but the most pleasing part was the boys following our game plan, we stuck to and it and got the points.”
The win moves Newcastle within two points of the top six as they go on to face current sixth-placed team Sydney FC next week away from home again.
Match details:
Brisbane Roar FC 0
Newcastle Jets FC 1 (J.Wheelhouse 23-)
Suncorp Stadium
Saturday 18th January 2012
Kick Off 6:45pm (7:45pm local time)
Crowd: 9,293
Newcastle Jets line up: 1. Ben KENNEDY (gk) 4. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 5. Tiago CALVANO, 6. Ben KANTAROVSKI, 10. Ruben ZADKOVICH, 11. Tarek ELRICH, 12. Jobe WHEELHOUSE (9. Michael BRIDGES 65-), 13. Sung-Hwan BYUN, 23. Ryan GRIFFITHS (2.Taylor REGAN 88-), 24. Francis JEFFERS (Jeremy BROCKIE 65-), 25. Jacob PEPPER.
Substitutes not used:19. Matthew NASH (gk).
Brisbane Roar: 1. Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2. Matthew SMITH (c), 3. Shane STEFANUTTO, 5. Ivan FRANJIC, 6. Erik PAARTALU (18. Luke BRATTAN 65-), 8. Massimo MURDOCCA, 10. HENRIQUE (21. James MEYER 65-), 16. Mohamed ADNAN, 17. Mitchell NICHOLS 22. Thomas BROICH, 24. Nicholas FITZGERALD.
Substitutes not used: 4. Matthew JURMAN, 20. Andrew REDMAYNE (gk).
