Roar star Jay O’Shea sent off in Newcastle’s home win over Brisbane

Newcastle bounced back from a 4-0 loss to Sydney FC with a convincing home win over the struggling Brisbane Roar.

Roar skipper Tom Aldred (second from left) argues with the referee Daniel Cook after his decision to award Jay O'Shea (right) a red card. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Brisbane Roar had a player sent off for the second successive match as their dismal form continued with a 3-1 loss to Newcastle on Tuesday night.

The Roar slumped to their sixth defeat in seven matches, while the Jets – fuelled by a brace from in-form marksman Apostolos Stamatelopoulos – bounced back from an embarrassing 4-0 loss to Sydney FC last Friday with an emphatic display at McDonald Jones Stadium.

While the Roar weren’t up to scratch, their cause wasn’t helped by the dismissal of their best player, Irishman Jay O’Shea, in first-half stoppage time.

While O’Shea’s studs caught the top of Jets midfielder Callum Timmins’ boot as he lunged for the ball, it seemed an extremely harsh decision by inexperienced referee Daniel Cook to send the veteran playmaker off.

Cook initially showed O’Shea a yellow card, but after reviewing video footage of the incident on the recommendation of the VAR, upgraded the punishment to a red card.

With Brisbane already trailing 1-0 after Stamatelopoulos had given the Jets the lead in the 29th minute, the sending off rubbed further salt into the Roar’s wounds, particularly after recent loan signing and another creative spark in Keegan Jelacic was also red-carded in the Queenslanders’ 3-1 home loss to Macarthur FC last Thursday night.

Roar midfielder Jay O'Shea (26) is sent off by referee Daniel Cook. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Roar skipper Tom Aldred was adamant O’Shea should not have been sent off.

“It’s grey areas with everything now,” Aldred told Paramount +.

“He goes for the ball – you can see that. When you slow things down on a camera … they can always look maybe worse.

“There was no intent from Jay. He just goes to win the ball. For me, it’s not a red card.”

Things went from bad to worse for the Roar early in the second-half.

Stamatelopoulos’ second goal of the night, and his 10th of the A-League season, doubled Newcastle’s lead in the 54th minute.

Defender Lucas Mauragis then sealed the Jets’ win three minutes later, slotting the ball home after running on to a well-placed Stamatelopoulos pass.

Roar substitute Ayom Majok scored his first A-League goal in the 71st minute to give the tiny pocket of Brisbane fans at the stadium some slight hope.

And had Roar forward Nikola Mileusnic not blown a golden chance to score two minutes later when he was denied in a one-on-one situation by Jets goalkeeper Ryan Scott, Brisbane might have fancied themselves to complete a remarkable comeback.

However, there was no denying that the Jets deserved their fourth win of the season, as they closed the gap between them and Brisbane to just one point.

Earlier, Newcastle dominated the first half and had the chance to go ahead in the 25th minute from the penalty spot after a handball offence from Roar left-back Louis Zabala.

However, Brisbane goalkeeper Macklin Freke came to his side’s rescue, saving the spot-kick from Reno Piscopo.

But the Jets didn’t drop their heads and were rewarded for their dominance four minutes later when Stamatelopoulos headed home a free-kick from Kosta Grozos.

Originally published as Roar star Jay O’Shea sent off in Newcastle’s home win over Brisbane