Newcastle Jets slumped to their fourth straight loss in the A-League as Brisbane Roar ran away with a victory owing to goals from Riku Danzaki and Dylan Wenzel-Halls.
The game began with the Jets’ forward Roy O’Donovan on 49 goals in the A-League so far, looking to be the 14th player in the A-League to reach a half century in Australia. But the exuberance in the early stages saw him go into the book less than two minutes following the start of the game owing to a strong challenge. Meanwhile, midfielder Angus Thurgate took down Riku Danzaki as the hosts signalled a physical start to the game.
Brisbane managed to silence the home fans by taking the lead just after five minutes, when Wenzel-Halls sent a long ball from the left to Danzaki outside the box. The young Japanese midfielder took a shot from range, which took a big deflection off Nikolai Topor-Stanley leaving goalkeeper Jack Duncan with no chance.
Following the opening goal, the game got a little scrappy as both midfield of both sides cancelled each other out. But a little under 20 minutes had gone when Craig Deans’ defence failed to close down oncoming midfielder Jay O’Shea. The Irishman let loose a beautiful effort from range, but the shot went just over the bar.
Nowcastle forward O’Donovan almost got his 50th goal in the league when he put goalkeeper Macklin Freke – who was making his A-League debut – to the test, but the shot-stopper made a good save to deny the equaliser.
With less than 10 minutes to go before half-time, the hosts made it 1-1 through a goal from Valentino Yuel. A set-play in the form of a corner saw Ramy Najjarine send in an excellent ball towards the near post, and the former Western United man rose above the rest of the players to send a strong header into the back of the net.
Brisbane shot-stopper Freke was under the pump during the early stages of the second-half, as Newcastle attempted to intimidate the youngster through long balls and crowding the box. The 22-year-old showed some nerves as he punched the ball away on multiple occasions, but did reasonably well overall to keep the game level.
As the hour mark approached, Wenzel-Halls was clipped by Nigel Boogaard on the edge of the box. The Jets’ skipper had no complaints as the man in charge booked him for the offence. Jau O’Shea stepped up to take the free-kick and had the right idea going straight for goal, but his shot missed by a whisker.
As the hour mark passed by, Brisbane took the lead again as Wenzel-Halls made it 2-1 for the visitors. Fellow hitman Scott McDonald split the defence with a sensational through ball as the 23-year-old slipped through. The young hitman kept his composure to send in a hard and low shot across the ‘keeper and into the left-bottom corner of the net.
After scoring that goal, Wenzel-Halls had a few words with Yuel to return the favour, as the duo had previously had a bit of banter when the former Western United man had got on the scoresheet.
A few minutes later, John Koutroumbis came in from a defensive position to make a great run through the middle and cut it through to Najjarine. But the creative forward was closed down quickly. Shortly thereafter, Koutroumbis was at it again as he tried his luck from range. But his shot went just over the bar on that occasion.
As the game went on, Brisbane started to look very comfortable in defence and looked to hold on to their lead by sitting back, allowing the Jets have most of the possession and come at them, while slowing down the game every chance they got. On one such occasion, Wenzel-Halls did everything to waste some time as he first fouled Boogaard, went to ground holding the ball and finally kicked the ball away as the referee called for a free-kick to be taken. The silky striker would have felt lucky to have not been cautioned for his actions.
A little before the man in charge brought the game to a halt, new arrival Masato Kudo was brought on to make his debut as goal scorer Wenzel-Halls made way for the Japanese forward. But as the final whistle was blown, the Jets worryingly slumped to their fourth straight loss.
Brisbane Roar take on Adelaide United at the Dolphin Stadium on Saturday, January 30, while Newcastle will look to lick their wounds as they prepare to lock horns with Wellington Phoenix in Wollongong on Sunday.
