The Newcastle Jets have their first point on the road since Round 1, after fending off 90 minutes of pressure from the Brisbane Roar to hold on to a 1-1 draw at Suncorp Stadium.
The Roar fired in 19 shots to the visitors’ three, but after taking the lead courtesy of a Matt Smith own-goal in the 18thminute the Jets held Brisbane scoreless until the 79th minute, by which time it was too late to add a second.
Ben Kennedy was nothing short of sensational in goal for Newcastle, but Brisbane will be bitterly disappointed with their finishing in front of goal.
The Roar took time to find their rhythm, uncharacteristically pushing long passes to begin with, but after ten minutes they began to settle and with Newcastle pushing forward in numbers, the Roar were able to open the visitors up on the counter.
Brisbane nearly manufactured an opening goal from a fast passing exchange which whizzed from Erik Paartalu, onto Kosta Barbarouses, through to Milan Susak and then back to Paartalu who shot unmarked from the penalty spot only for a diving Kennedy to save the day for the visitors.
Under the pump and struggling to keep up with the intensity of the hosts, Newcastle received the lucky break they needed in the 18th minute when Matthew Smith deflected an innocuous cross from Jeremy Brockie past Michael Theoklitos and into the net for an own goal.
Trailing for only the second time at home this year, the Roar came back at the Jets with increased intensity and after Ruben Zadkovich was booked for a hard foul at the top of the area, Paartalu demanded another fine save from Kennedy with a cracking drive from the set piece.
Brisbane had another chance seemingly destined for the back of the net, but Kennedy was again moving brilliantly and made it across the goal in time to block the duffed shot of Thomas Broich, who had been in prime position to score from a clever lob.
Brisbane resumed their probing attack after the break, but with Newcastle holding the hosts outside the area, Broich tried a different approach, unleashing a rocket from distance, causing Kennedy to make another acrobatic save.
After 20 minutes of second-half action, the Roar had barely played a minute with less than nine men in their attacking half with the visitors defending desperately in search of just their second win of the season.
Eventually though something had to give, and from the corner it was Reinaldo who broke through, heading a corner home past Kennedy, who after a brilliant game in goal showed he was human by misjudging his attempted parry.
Brisbane pushed desperately for a late winner, but it just wasn’t their night, and opportunities continued to go begging until the very end.
Brisbane Roar: 1 (Reinaldo 79)
Newcastle Jets: 1 (Smith 18og)