Brisbane and Newcastle played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in their Foxtel National Youth League clash at Goodwin Park on Saturday afternoon.
Brisbane and Newcastle played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in their Foxtel National Youth League clash at Goodwin Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Roar came back admirably from a two-goal deficit to draw level, but it was the Jets who came closest to finding a winner with a flurry of late chances.
Craig Goodwin scored the opening goal for Newcastle at the end of a first half that was largely dominated by defence, before Mitch Cooper doubled the lead just after the break.
Brandon Borrello inspired a Roar fightback, however, scoring twice in the space of four minutes.
Earlier, Borrello almost got the Roar off to the best possible start when he pounced on a loose ball and bore down on goal, but his low shot was saved easily by Ben Kennedy.
Goodwin smashed a powerful effort against the crossbar for the Jets, then a few minutes later Kale Bradbery went on a marauding diagonal run, played a return one-two with Joey Gibbs, then had his low shot saved by Matt Acton.
In the 22nd minute Jai Ingham couldn’t quite get a foot on a Borrello cross from the left in what surely would have been a back-post goal for Brisbane if he had made contact.
Chances were few and far between for much of the half, but the Jets nearly took the lead on the stroke of half-time, only for Mitch Cooper to scoop the ball over the bar from close range.
There was still time for the go-ahead goal, though, as Goodwin cracked it in from outside the box in first-half injury time.
Soon after the break it was 2-0 as Cooper combined with Gibbs in the area then coolly finished past Acton.
Borrello dragged Brisbane back onto level terms, however, with a quickfire double.
Borrello’s first came after a superb though ball from Patrick Theodore, and the second off the back of some brilliant lead-up play from Lachlan Jackson.
A quick passing movement from the Jets on the edge of the Roar box gave Brandon Lundy plenty of space to line up a shot, but his effort flew wide.
The lively Bradbery had the ball in the back of the net for Newcastle with less than 10 minutes remaining, but he was adjudged to have been marginally offside when Mitchell Oxborrow crossed the ball.
Bradbery would have one more gilt-edged chance, but sliced his shot from Nicholas Cowburn’s cross wide from close range, as the game opened up in the dying minutes.
Acton was forced to make one more sensational save deep into injury time when Lundy cracked in an effort from wide on the right.
Brisbane Roar 2 (Borrello 57, 61)
Newcastle Jets 2 (Goodwin 45+2, Cooper 49)
Brisbane Roar: 20. Matt Acton (gk), 2. Diogo Ferreira, 3. Jordon Lampard, 4. Lachlan Jackson, 5. Jade North (15. Sam Cronin 60), 6. Benjamin Liftin (c) (14. Mitchell Hore 60), 7. Jai Ingham, 9. Samed Altundag (12. Shannon Brady 30), 10. Devante Clut, 11. Brandon Borrello, 16. Patrick Theodore
Newcastle Jets: 1. Ben Kennedy (gk), 2. Michael Finlayson, 3. Connor Chapman, 4. Nicholas Cowburn, 5. Matthew Bilic, 6. Mitchell Oxborrow, 7. Kale Bradbery, 8. Zennon Caravella (c) (13. Thomas Waller 58), 9. Joey Gibbs, 10. Mitch Cooper (14. Brandon Lundy 58), 11. Craig Goodwin (12. Michael Kantarovski 58)
