Champness, O'Donovan at the double as six-goal Jets rout Roar

Newcastle Jets ruined the first leg of Matt McKay's farewell to football with a crushing 6-1 win at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

Braces from Joey Champness and Roy O'Donovan and one apiece for Dimitri Petratos and Kwabena Appiah-Kubi guided the visitors to a straightforward fifth win in the past five instalments of this fixture.

Zach Duncan's maiden Hyundai A-League goal proved as good as it got for Brisbane in retiring captain McKay's penultimate appearance for the club.

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Newcastle twice tested Jamie Young before winger Champness sliced open the right side of Roar’s defence in a devastating four-minute period.

The confident 21-year-old cut inside and drove a deflected a curler into the far corner for the opener, before going around the outside of Daniel Leck to tee up O'Donovan's instinctive finish.

Only an acrobatic Young save from Angus Thurgate's effort prevented Brisbane from falling further behind before the break.

Two youngsters combined to briefly give Darren Davies' side hope after the restart as 18-year-old Duncan punished Lewis Italiano's failure to hold a fierce Dylan Wenzel-Halls strike.


But the one-goal margin last barely five minutes, with O'Donovan rising highest to meet Ivan Vujica's measured cross just prior to the hour.

Ernie Merrick's men were not in the mood for mercy and notched another two in quick succession to heap more pain on the beleaguered Brisbane.

Kaine Sheppard's left-footed strike fortuitously deflected in off the head of Petratos, whose thumping drive across goal enabled Champness to tap in his second and Newcastle's fifth in the 68th minute.


Substitute Appiah-Kubi completed the carnage in added time, tucking away a one-on-one, and Roar will now turn their attention to sending off McKay in more fitting fashion against Adelaide United on Anzac Day.

The Jets round out the campaign at home to Sydney FC next Saturday.

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This article was originally published on the Hyundai A-League website.
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