The Newcastle Jets have played out a one all draw with the Brisbane Roar atSuncorp Stadium tonight. An own goal by Brisbane defender Matthew Smith gave the Newcastle Jets the lead in the 18th minute but the advantage was rubbed out in the 77th minute when Reinaldo won a header off a corner and scored the equalizer.
The Newcastle Jets have played out a one all draw with the Brisbane Roar atSuncorp Stadium tonight. An own goal by Brisbane defender Matthew Smith gave the Newcastle Jets the lead in the 18th minute but the advantage was rubbed out in the 77th minute when Reinaldo won a header off a corner and scored the equalizer.
It was a high tempo start to the match with the Newcastle Jets having some good early possession but it was Brisbane who created the first scoring opportunity. Crisp passing by the Brisbane Roar through the midfield created a beautiful chance for Erik Paartalu who shot hard and low to force Ben Kennedy to his left to save in the 11th minute.
The Jets were under pressure again two minutes later when Reinaldo made a strong run forward but Taylor Regan made a strong tackle to halt the Brisbane striker-s progress. Newcastle were again forced to defend their line in the 15th minute when a ball across the face of goal was intercepted by Adam D-Apuzzo and virtually taken off the boot of a waiting Mitch Nichols.
Despite the pressure, the game took a positive twist for the Newcastle Jets in the 18th minute when Jeremy Brockie found space on the left side and made a strong run before crossing the ball. Michael Theoklitos came off his line to intercept the ball but did not anticipate a retreating Matthew Smith. The Brisbane defender got a crucial touch on the ball to turn it into an empty Brisbane goal and give Newcastle a one nil lead.
In the 29th minute, a Brisbane free kick set play was struck by Paartalu which forced Ben Kennedy to make another quality save to concede a corner. The resulting corner was almost disastrous for the Jets with Kennedy finding himself stranded on the edge of his six yard but he was saved by Tarek Elrich who cleared the ball off the Newcastle Jets goal line.
In the 39th minute, Brisbane Roar had another opportunity when a ball across the six yard box found an unmarked Broich. His side volley was on target but a scrambling Ben Kennedy was again on hand to deny the Roar and he pushed the ball around his post.
The high tempo continued in the second half and the Roar put the Jets under some early pressure but it was the Jets who had the first strike on goal in the second half. In the 50th minute, Ruben Zadkovich hit a superb strike from 30 yards that had Theoklitos beaten but the shot was narrowly off target and the score remained 1 goal to nil.
In the 58th minute, Ben Kennedy rescued his team again when he spectacularly saved a 25 yard screamer from Thomas Broich by pushing the ball over his crossbar with his left hand while fully stretched in the air.
The Roar continued to dominate the second half and the Newcastle Jets were under a lot of pressure but continued to defend with resilience. The Brisbane Roar had a number of opportunities but were struggling to break the Jets down. However, the Newcastle Jets finally succumb to the Roar dominance in the 77th minute when Reinaldo headed home off a corner to score the equaliser.
At one all, both teams had opportunities to win the game. In the 90th minute, a through ball by Matt Mackay almost found Reinaldo but Ben Kennedy was off his line quickly to deny the Roar again. The Newcastle Jets almost pinched the game in injury time when a ball through the middle of the Roar defence found Marko Jesic face to face with Theoklitos but he was unable to get a touch on the ball and the opportunity went begging.
A very busy Ben Kennedy stated after the match “they kept on attacking but we expected that because they are a sharp side and they were playing at home. All year they have been one of the better attacking teams and we expected that but I felt that for 75 minutes we defended well but unfortunately we couldn-t hold on”.
Branko Culina stated “you can-t take anything away from Brisbane, I think they deserved something from the game, there is no doubt about that but our goal keeper Ben Kennedy was superb tonight”. However, Culina was disappointed with the goal the Jets conceded stating “maybe one or two chances that they had they should have scored and they didn-t but I think they scored from one that I think we could have and should have defended.
The Newcastle Jets now move to eight points on the table with tonight-s result being their fifth draw of the season. Despite having the best defensive record in the A-league, the Jets remain in 10th position on the ladder.
Brisbane Roar 1 (Reinaldo 77′)
Newcastle Jets 1 (og Smith 18′)
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Jarred Gillet
Brisbane Roar squad: 1. Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2. Matt SMITH, 3. Luke DEVERE, 4. Shane STEFANUTTO, 6. Erik PAARTALU (Rocky VISCONTE 75-), 7. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 11. REINALDO 15. Matt McKAY (c), 17. Mitch NICHOLS (8. Massimo MURDOCCA 58-), 22. Thomas BROICH, 23. Milan SUSAK (5.Ivan FRANJIC 69-)
Substitutes not used: 20. Andrew REDMAYNE (gk)
Yellow cards: Milan SUSACK (28-), Shane STEFANUTTO (57-)
Red cards: Nil
Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Ben KENNEDY (gk), 2. Taylor REGAN 3. Adam D-APUZZO, 5. Ljubo MILICEVIC(c), 7. Kasey WEHRMAN 10. Ruben ZADKOVICH, 11. Tarek ELRICH, 14. Labinot HALITI (19. Ali ABBAS 62-), 15. Sean ROONEY (9. Zhang SHUO 75-), 16. Jeremy BROCKIE (17. Marcello FIORENTINI 83-), 18. Marko JESIC,
Substitutes not used: 40. Matthew NASH (gk)
Yellow cards: Ruben ZADKOVICH (23-), Ljubo MILICEVIC (34-), Tarek ELRICH
(55-), Kasey WEHRMAN (61st)
Red cards: Nil
