Gold Coast reversed their hoodoo against Newcastle and put their title ambitions firmly back on track with a convincing 2-0 over the Jets at Skilled Park on Wednesday night.

First-half goals from Culina and debutant James Brown were enough to secure the points for the men in yellow whose goal was rarely threatened by the Jets.

Leap-frogging Melbourne into second place, Gold Coast's win puts them just two behind A-League table-topper Sydney (39 points) and sets up a blockbuster clash with the Sky Blues on Sunday.

A win over Vitezslav Lavicka's men will see United go to top spot for the first time since Round 11.

Looking to keep players fresh for Sunday's clash, Gold Coast made two changes to the starting line-up that drew 1-1 with Adelaide.

Joel Porter and Steve Fitzsimmons made way for new signing Dino Djulbic and in-form youth player Brown.

Newcastle, which won five of their last six matches, made just one change to the side that downed Melbourne 3-2 on the weekend, Ali Abbas slotting in for suspended midfielder Ben Kantarovski.

With so much at stake for both sides, the Jets sat back for the first 15 minutes and let the Gold Coast midfield control possession.

Newcastle custodian Neil Young nearly succumbed to the pressure after spilling Culina's cross into the area but luckily Tarek Elrich was on hand to clear.

Nikolai Topor-Stanley was the saviour for the Jets defence a short time later when he cleared Charlie Miller's chip over Young off the line with the Scot unlucky not to score after Shane Smeltz headed a neat ball into his path.

The Jets goalkeeper was in the thick of the action again, requiring treatment for a suspected broken nose after Smeltz clattered into him as he rushed off his line to pick-up a through ball.

Gold Coast captain Culina finally undid the Newcastle defence in the 33rd minute when he slammed a free kick from the left across the area hoping for a deflection, to his delight no-one managed a touch and Young was left stranded as the ball flew past him and into the net.

Five minutes later Branko Culina's side was left cursing again as Gold Coast doubled their lead through local youth product Brown.

Making his first start of the season for United, Brown initiated a great one-two with Culina at the top of the box.

Brown's speed paid dividends as he latched onto Culina's return, curling a right-foot effort past Young's left and into the top of the net.

The half-time whistle couldn't come soon enough for the Jets who trudged off for the break.

Emerging from the tunnel, both sides made changes for the second half, Gold Coast replacing Miller with Porter and the bloodied and battered Young was replaced by back-up keeper Ben Kennedy.

Striker Sasho Petrovski was also brought into the mix as Newcastle looked to find something upfront with Michael Bridges making way.

Jobe Wheelhouse had the Jets' first real chance 10 minutes in when his header went wide after finding Song Jin Hyung's free-kick from the right.

Just before the hour mark Smeltz had a great chance to put the Gold Coast three in front, but the Kiwi international blazed over an empty net after running onto Anderson's clearance, holding off Topor-Stanley, and rounding Kennedy.

With Gold Coast controlling the majority of second-half possession, Newcastle's best chance of the night fell to Thompson in the 82nd minute when United goalkeeper Jess Vanstrattan spilled a cross in the area.

After a scramble, defender Djulbic managed to save twice on the line, firstly from Topor-Stanley and then miraculously getting a foot to Thompson's effort.

As the final whistle drew near, United had the last chance of the night, deep into stoppage time when Porter headed over the bar after Smeltz drew Kennedy off his line and chipped neatly to the penalty spot.

Gold Coast United 2 (Culina 34, Brown 38)
Newcastle Jets 0
Crowd: 4853 @ Skilled Park