NEWCASTLE Jets ended a worrying week with a point after Branko Culuina's 10 men secured a 0-0 draw against Brisbane Roar at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Roar went into the match on the back of their best start to the season but came up against an embattled Newcastle club, who dug deep to put a week of financial crisis behind them with a spirited performance that saw them finish with 10 men.
Both sides maintained solid defensive shapes to cancel each other to start the match but it was the Jets who had the better chances in the opening half.
Skipper Michael Bridges had the first shot of the match in the eighth minute with a crisply taken left-footer from the edge of the box which was pushed around the near post by Michael Theoklitos. Ruben Zadkovich looped a scissor-kick over the bar from a corner while Jeremy Brockie shot over from long-range inside the opening 20 minutes.
Roar had their best chance of the half in 34th minute when Henrique got in behind the Jets and looked like being able play the ball back for Milan Susak on the six-yard box but Kasey Wherman was able to get in and head the ball back to goalkeeper Ben Kennedy.
The Roar came out with more intensity in the second half and lanky striker Reinaldo went inches from scoring the opening goal when he met Matt McKay's corner in on the six-yard box only to see it crash into the crossbar and down for Ben Kantarovski to clear.
The Jets worked their way back into the match with Bridges firing an angled shot right into the arms of Theoklitos at the near post.
Both sides made changes in the 68th minute. The Jets injected Ali Abbas for Kantarovski while Chinese import Zhang Shuo came on for his debut in place of Jesic, and the Roar brought on Massimo Murdocca for Reinaldo.
The changes almost brought when some nice interplay between Bridges and Shou put Tarek Elrich in the box, who flashed a cross across the face of goal.
Theoklitos pulled off a great save in the 79th minute when he dived low to his left to block an Ali Abbas strike after the Iraqi had streaked his way into the box out to pull the trigger from 15 yards out.
The Jets task was made harder when they were reduced to 10 men in the 81st minute when Zadkovich was shown his second yellow for a challenge on Michael DeVere.
Roar went close to pinching the match three minutes from full-time when substitute Mitch Nichols was put through on goal only to see his low drive from 16 yards out well saved by Kennedy as both sides packed their defenses to earn a share of the points.
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