A second-half onslaught has lifted the Newcastle Jets to a dominant 4-0 A-League Men win over Brisbane Roar at McDonald Jones Stadium and moved them within touching distance of the top six.
After being frustrated by a stout Roar defence across the opening half, Jaushua Sotirio's 52nd-minute strike broke the game open for the hosts, who then sealed Friday night's result through goals to Trent Buhagiar, Beka Mikeltadze and Archie Goodwin.
Now three games undefeated, it was the Jets' first win at home in five attempts and they are now only out of the final places on goal difference.
Dominating the stat sheet, they'd had few problems manoeuvering the ball towards the Roar penalty area in the first half but met a wall of defenders when they got there, preventing looks on goal and clogging passing lanes.
Seeing just a third of possession, the visitors only produced one shot on target across this period, importantly, that was the same figure they restricted their foes to.
But Jets creative fulcrum Reno Piscopo would not be denied when he picked up the ball inside his own half in the 52nd minute, shrugging off three defenders as he drove forward and slid a perfect pass through for Sotirio to bury the ball in the bottom corner of the net.
Now scoreless in their last 270 minutes of football, the Roar attempted to lift their intensity in search of a leveller but, reflective of their struggles in attack all season, lacked a cutting edge.
And with space opening up behind their defensive line as they ventured forward, substitute Buhagiar was able to burst through and make it two in the 72nd.
Mikeltadze added another four minutes later when he bent in a pearler from the top of the box and Goodwin put a bow on proceedings with a 94th minute sealer.
