Newcastle announced themselves as A-League finals contenders in becoming the third team this weekend to notch four goals in a trouncing of a rudderless Brisbane.
Three quickfire second-half goals in 24 minutes dismantled last season’s semi-finalists, who had the majority of possession at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday but lacked finish.
Young winger Andrew Nabbout was the star of the show, playing a part in most attacking raids and notching an assist for Devante Clut, who completed the rout in the 86th minute.
It was a rare clean sheet for the Jets, who were defensively sturdy despite the absence of key players Daniel Mullen and Jason Hoffman and made their case for a first bout of finals action in six seasons.
Clut’s straightforward strike on his 21st birthday followed goals from Jets captain Nigel Boogaard and Olyroo Steven Ugarkovic and a disastrous Roar own goal that started the rot inside eight minutes.
Jack Hingert intercepted Nabbout’s cross and attempted to clear, only to poke the ball past goalkeeper Michael Theo. Hingert had done his best to stop the damage after a poor pass out of defence from last weekend’s hero Luke DeVere gave Newcastle a wide opening.
Brett Holman looked for an immediate reply, feeding Jamie Maclaren an excellent pass that the striker nipped wide, while Tommy Oar would have scored from outside the box had young keeper Jack Duncan not stretched a fingertip to lift it onto the crossbar.
But Newcastle were buoyed by their unexpected lead and stroked the ball around with confidence. Nabbout marauded down the right and dribbled into the box to strike just wide of Theo’s goal.
But it was defender Boogaard who doubled the advantage in the second half, heading home a curling Ben Kantarovski cross for his fifth career goal and first since joining the Jets at the start of last year.
As the Roar descended into a state of apathy, Ugarkovic made the lead unassailable, pouncing on a poor clearance attempt by Corey Brown and dinking a low, firm left-footed strike from outside the box.
For good measure, Nabbout entered the box again, drew Theo out and slid the ball to Clut who strolled into an empty net.
In the late kick-off, Perth Glory scored their first win of the A-League season with a 2-0 win over the Wellington Phoenix at nib Stadium.
The Phoenix were coming off an opening-round loss to Melbourne City and started strongly but Glory took control and turned their dominance into goals in the second half.
Perth got on the board through a Diego Castro penalty and they should have doubled their advantage, but Andy Keogh delivered a powerless penalty effort in the 61st minute.
It mattered little with Nebojsa Marinkovic scoring with a powerful shot five minutes later having come on for the injured Adam Taggart.
It was a sloppy start from the home team but Glory soon settled and over the last half-hour of the first half had plenty of chances they could and should have scored from.
Castro, Chris Harold, Marinkovic, Keogh and Rostyn Griffiths all had good looks on goal but none gave Phoenix goalkeeper Glen Moss any serious headaches.
While Wellington was hanging in there well in the first half, it didn’t last.
Perth’s opening goal came when Adam Parkhouse tripped Harold in the box when he was awaiting a cross from Keogh and Castro had no trouble with the 48th-minute penalty.
Keogh also got a clear penalty call in his favour just over 10 minutes later when taken down by Moss when left one-on-one in the box. The Irishman offered a poor penalty that meekly went straight to the keeper.
A stunning run by Josh Risdon in the 66th minute set up Marinkovic to strike a cracking goal to put Perth 2-0.
The win comes after Perth’s 3-3 draw at home to Central Coast despite leading 3-0 and now they go on the road to face unbeaten Melbourne City on Friday.
Wellington host the also undefeated Sydney FC on Sunday.
