The Newcastle Jets have exited the Asian Champions League courtesy of a 6-0 defeat at the hands of the Pohang Steelers in their round-of-16 clash at Pohang Steelyard on Wednesday night.
Pohang turned on the style to cruise into the quarter-finals of the ACL as Choi Hyo-jin netted a hat-trick.
The 25-year-old midfielder, alongside Denilson, proved to be the Australian side’s tormentors-in-chief throughout the entirety of a match-up in which the visitors were completely outclassed.
Pohang took the lead in just the ninth minute when Denilson’s neat turn saw him escape the attentions of Adam D’Apuzzo and Jason Hoffman before Hoffman pulled the Brazilian’s shirt as he drove into the box and he fell to the turf.
The Malaysian referee pointed to the spot and Denilson sent keeper Ben Kennedy the wrong way as he slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
Pohang was then gifted a second after a quarter of an hour when Jobe Wheelhouse dwelled too long on the ball in the centre circle and Choi nipped in to rob the defender.
Wheelhouse fell over attempting to recover, presenting the Pohang midfielder with a clear run on goal, and Choi rounded Kennedy with a stepover while his finish from a narrow angle beat Matt Thompson’s desperate lunge on the line.
The third goal came after 55 minutes when Denilson imperiously brought down a high ball and attacked the Jets defence with a forceful run.
The striker slipped the ball into Kim Jae-sung down the right flank and, having edged into the box, the midfielder turned inside Thompson and rifled an angled finish into the roof of the net past a bewildered Kennedy.
There was no let-up from Sergio Farias’ men and Denilson was again at the heart of the action to create the fourth goal just after the hour mark.
The Jets failed to halt his strong run down the right and the striker’s cutback was dispatched low into the far corner by Choi despite three defenders in close proximity.
The midfielder claimed his hat-trick in the 71st minute when his glancing header from Kim Kwang-suk’s cross looped over the Jets keeper and substitute Stevica Ristic completed the Jets’ misery five minutes from time when he latched onto a long crossfield ball, cut inside from the left and lashed a right-foot shot past Kennedy from the edge of the box.
