A-League: Newcastle Jets shock Brisbane Roar with 4-0 win

The Newcastle Jets had no coach and, according to some pundits, no hope. What a difference six weeks makes.

The Jets’ Andrew Nabbout, who proved a handful for the Roar defence down the right flank, gets a toe to the ball just ahead of Jacob Pepper.

Six weeks ago, the Newcastle Jets had no coach and, according to some pundits, no hope as the start of the A-League season loomed.

With opening games against defending champions Adelaide United and then Brisbane Roar, who finished a match out of the grand final, the signs were grim for the Jets and Mark Jones, who eventually took the reins a month ago.

OK, it is just two games into a 27-game season but Newcastle have already started to make the critics eat their words after a stunning but nonetheless glorious 4-0 win over Brisbane in front of 8335 at ­McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle yesterday.

So, after just two rounds, the unbeaten Jets are sitting in third spot with four points, just two ­behind frontrunners Sydney FC and Melbourne City.

Despite an opening 1-1 draw against Adelaide last week, few would have seen yesterday's comprehensive result coming against a side that had shown typical grit to come back with a late equaliser against Melbourne Victory last week and one many believe can challenge for honours this season.

Make no mistake, Newcastle were great value for the three points, tearing the Roar apart with a three-goal scoring burst between the 62nd and 86th minute after they had led 1-0 at the break.

Inspired by a phenomenal performance from Andrew Nabbout, they simply had too much pace and enthusasim.

A clear man of the match, the Victorian was a handful for the Roar defence down the right flank, carving them up with his speed. He also had a hand in two goals — one forcing an own goal from Jack Hingert for the opening goal of the match on nine minutes and the other delivering an 86th-minute tap-in for substitute Devante Clut, who celebrated his 21st birthday with the best possible gift.

In between, skipper Nigel Boogaard, who led by example and was a tower of strength in defence, grabbed just the fifth goal of his 176-game career and his first for the Jets to make it 2-0 after 62 minutes while quality midfielder Steve Ugarkovic added a third in the 71st minute.

The defeat leaves Roar coach John Aloisi with plenty to think about. The Roar have now conceded nine goals in their past two away games, taking into account last season's 5-4 semi-final loss to the Wanderers.

The Jets made three changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Adelaide United last week with Lachlan Jackson replacing Daniel Mullen, Ivan Vujica for Jason Hoffman and Morten Nordstrand coming in for Aleksandr Kokko.

Brisbane brought Jacob Pepper into the midfield for suspended captain Matt McKay and Tommy Oar for veteran Thomas Broich.

The home side got off to a wonderful start, finding the lead after eight minutes after some terrific lead-up work from Nabbout. The attacking midfielder pounced on a loose pass then shrugged off a ­defender before charging into the box, where his pass across the face of the goal was turned into his own net by Hingert.

Nabbout was proving a handful for the Roar defence, causing all sorts of problems with his pace down the right flank as he got in behind the opposition time and time again. He created chances on 12 and 21 minutes — the first when he cut inside in the Roar area ­before his curling left-footer sailed narrowly past the left post.

The former Victory player then found himself in acres of space again after running on to a superb pass from Ben Kantarovski. He charged into the box but his pass across goal had too much sting in it and the ball eluded Nordstrand.

However, Brisbane eventually settled into the game and started to cause some concerns of their own for the Jets defence.

Oar, keen to show he should be a regular starter, struck a powerful left-footer from about 20m to force a cracking save from Jack Duncan on 24 minutes.

The Jets were forced to defend grimly for a sustained period up to halftime and were fortunate not to go into the break all square after Jamie Maclaren fired a first-time volley that was headed goalwards before it was deflected behind for a corner.