Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar have played out a 0-0 draw in Round 5 of A-League action. A-League Round 5Newcastle United: 0 Brisbane Roar: 0
Venue: EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle Crowd: 7,063 Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones Yellow cards:NU - Ruben Zadkovich 30', 81', Tarek Elrich 45', Kasey Wehrman 74' BR - Erik Paartalu 22', Jean Carlos Solorzano 86' Red cardsNU - Ruben Zadkovich 81'
The opening 20 or so minutes saw most of the play situated in the middle of the pitch, giving both goalkeepers little to do in very windy conditions.
Newcastle had more of the play allowing them to create more goalscoring chances although Brisbane managed to get on top in the latter stages of the half, using their slick passing game to help break open the Jets defence.
Neither side were able to trouble the scorers and the opening 45 minutes ended without any clearcut chances to speak of.
Brisbane had the first decisive chance in the 53rd minute when Matt McKay's swinging corner was met by Brazilian striker Reinaldo but his glancing volley hit the underside of the crossbar before being cleared by the Jets defence. The visitors were very unlucky not to go one-nil up.
It seemed as though the Roar were happy to take a draw as the second half rolled on and you could sense that the Jets were ready to strike. They came close to taking the lead in the 79th minute when Ali Abbas struck from inside the area after a series of step-overs but Roar keeper Michael Theoklitos pulled off a brilliant diving save to keep his side in the game.
The makeup of the contest changed with nine minutes remaining when Jets midfielder Ruben Zadkovich was shown a second yellow card for his challenge on Luke DeVere, reducing his side to ten men just as the game sparked to life.
Despite the efforts of both sides to try and get a winner in the dying stages, the match ended in a 0-0 draw, continuing Brisbane's unbeaten start to the season.
Starting Line-Ups
NU Ben Kennedy (gk), Adam D'Apuzzo, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Ljubo Milicevic, Ben Kantarovski (Abbas 68'), Kasey Wehrman, Michael Bridges, Ruben Zadkovich, Tarek Elrich, Jeremy Brockie (Petrovski 82'), Marko Jesic (Shuo 68')
Subs - Matthew Nash (gk), Zhang Shuo (68'), Sasho Petrovski (82'), Ali Abbas (68')
BR Michael Theoklitos (gk), Matthew Smith, Luke DeVere, Shane Stefanutto, Erik Paartalu, Kosta Barbarouses (Solorzano 76'), Henrique (Nichols 84'), Reinaldo (Murdocca 69'), Matt McKay, Thomas Broich, Milan Susak
Subs - Andrew Redmayne (gk), Massimo Murdocca (69'), Jean Carlos Solorzano (76'), Mitch Nichols (84')
