Jets beat Roar at Suncorp; is it a sign?

If the Brisbane Roar vintage of 2013/14 needed to know it was not invincible, the reminder was always going to be best served by the Newcastle Jets.

Victors at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night, the visitors' 2-0 win continued both a trend of away dominance and warning signs meted out by Newcastle in the Queensland capital. 

While the Ange Postecoglou era erased much of the scars from Joel Griffiths' consecutive 80+ minute winners in the 07/08 and 08/09 seasons, parallels can be drawn between those talented Roar sides - built on a blend of Moore, Tiatto, McKay and Zullo, Kruse, Nichols - that twice capitulated on the precipice of success, and the current infusion of proven quality and youth.

Whether the 2013/14 Roar squad's collective and individual confidence is affected by the Round 11 blip - say, whether Corey Brown's forward forays are curbed by an opener on which he was caught further afield, or in the manner Luke Brattan responds to knowing not all midfield battles will be under his control - can only truly be discovered when it matters most, in finals.

Roar coach Mike Mulvey acknowledged the need for the result to not fester into something larger.

"What this is is a wake-up call to us," Mulvey said.

"This is our home ground, we want it to be a fortress - it was up until now.

"We created a couple of good chances but the particular one very early was a great move and Liam got on the end of it but it just skewed past the post, so if that goes in it is a different story.

"They came with a particular gameplan - they changed their formation a couple times in the first half - to combat what we were doing, and then they get a bit of a messy goal on our behalf and sat back.

"I take full responsibility for the result and we will fix it on the training paddock."

But where the home support continues to contend with irritation as the lingering emotion from what must appear an inconspicuous fixture to the rest of the league, the flip-side to the human tale is the joy at what has often been a road-trip banker for Newcastle followers.

Jets coach Gary van Egmond was the instigator for travelling delight on this occasion as his first-half tactical reshuffle clogged Brisbane's avenues to goal.

"We started off with a 4-4-2 trying to play a diamond initially but they kept getting out the opposite side and I thought it was a matter of time until we got ourselves into trouble, so we switched back to a 4-3-3," van Egmond said.

"That made it a little bit easier for us to be more compact in the middle with each wide player tucking into the two central midfielders."

"It was a fantastic effort by the players defensively and opportunistic with regards to scoring a couple as well."

Brisbane Roar: 1. Michael THEO (gk), 19. Jack HINGERT, 2. Matt SMITH, 15. James DONACHIE, 26. Corey BROWN, 18. Luke BRATTAN, 11. Liam MILLER, 17. Matt McKAY, 5. Ivan FRANJIC, 7. Besart BERISHA, 22. Thomas BROICH.
Bench: 20. Matt ACTON (gk), 14. Diogo FERREIRA, 23. Dimitri PETRATOS, 28. Brandon BORRELLO, 10. HENRIQUE.

Newcastle Jets: 1. Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 16. Jacob PEPPER, 3. Taylor REGAN, 4. Kew JALIENS, 21. Sam GALLAWAY, 5. Ben KANTAROVSKI, 8. Ruben ZADKOVICH, 15. Josh BRILLANTE, 7. Andrew HOOLE, 18. James BROWN, 22. Adam TAGGART.
Bench: 20. Ben KENNEDY (gk), 24. Mitchell OXBORROW, 6. Zenon CARAVELLA, 11. Craig GOODWIN, 13. Joey GIBBS.