IT was 385 days in the making and took 90 minutes of hard work, organisation and determination.
But after 13 failed attempts – 10 losses and three draws – the Newcastle Jets finally ended their drought on the road.
Captain Jobe Wheelhouse scored the decisive strike in the 23rd minute to lead the Jets to an upset 1-0 win over A-League champions Brisbane Roar at a rain-soaked Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
The win was the Jets’ first away from Ausgrid Stadium since they accounted for the now-defunct North Queensland Fury in Townsville on January 8 last year.
The much-needed victory moved the Jets into seventh place on 22 points, two adrift of Sydney FC, who they visit on Sunday. The journey to Moore Park is one of four away games the Jets have in the final eight rounds.
Though relieved to get the monkey off the back, coach Gary van Egmond warned the job was far from complete.
‘‘To win away from home, and to do it against Brisbane, was very pleasing,’’ van Egmond said.
‘‘There were a lot of things which were pleasing about the result; the way the boys carried out the instructions, the ability to retain possession at certain stages, especially in the first half, and second half the amount of determination and grit.
‘‘They are traits you need to be a good football team in this league. You put a few wins together and all of a sudden you shoot up the table.
‘‘That is what we have to do.’’
The win was the fourth in 16 outings since van Egmond took charge and went about reshaping the way the Jets play.
When asked if he thought they had turned the corner, the coach was coy.
‘‘We have had a few turning points, haven’t we,’’ he said.
‘‘For us to have gone to Bathurst to meet Adelaide and then back up against Brisbane away and to get four points is fantastic.
‘‘But we still have to get better in regards to how we control the game.
‘‘Brisbane are still the benchmark in how you should be looking to try to play.
‘‘But there are going to be times where you are going to need a bit of elbow grease.’’
The Jets entered Saturday’s match as $6.50 outsiders despite an impressive, albeit surprising, record of six wins from nine games at Suncorp.
The visitors played on the counter, created several good chances in the first half, scored on 23 minutes then hung on for dear life in the second.
The goal was straight from the Roar playbook.
Ben Kantarovski took a quick free kick and rolled the ball to Jobe Wheelhouse on the edge of the box.
After a neat interchange between the midfielder and his skipper, Wheelhouse got in behind Roar defender Matt Smith and slid an angled shot under the right glove of keeper Michael Theoklitos.
After the break the Roar launched wave after wave of attack at a Jets defence content to sit back.
The home side delivered 49 balls into the penalty area but most were intercepted by Nikolai Topor-Stanley or Tiago.
Fullbacks Tarek Erich and Byun Sung-hwan worked hard to combat Roar’s wide men and midfielders Jacob Pepper, Kantarovski and Ruben Zadkovich hassled and harried.
Not that the Roar were devoid of chances. Henrique missed from close range, Mitch Nichols shot over the bar and Thomas Broich also sprayed a couple of attempts wide.
Henrique was also wrongly judged offside when he looked certain to score, but the Jets rode their luck and their defence remained stout.
‘‘When you are chasing games, you allow the opposition to sit back, and they have every right to. It is pretty hard to find space,’’ Roar coach Angle Postecoglou said.
‘‘The couple of times where we broke through, there were iffy offside calls which frustrated us even more.’’
With his side lining up for their third game in eight days, van Egmond opted for a conservative approach and went away from his preferred 4-3-3 formation to a 4-4-2.
Byun came in at left back, Wheelhouse and Jacob Pepper returned in midfield and Francis Jeffers partnered Ryan Griffiths up front.
Wheelhouse was used in a forward midfield role to try to nullify Eric Paartalu, who builds Brisbane’s play from a deep midfield position.
‘‘We played Wednesday and it was obviously going to be tough for us to back up,’’ van Egmond said.
‘‘We knew that, hence the way we played. It was more counter-attack football . . . The back line, the three midfielders and the No.10 [Wheelhouse] had to be extremely disciplined, and they were.’’
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