Eric Bautheac’s late strike has given Darren Davies his first point as interim coach of the Brisbane Roar as they came from behind twice to snatch a point from the Newcastle Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium on Wednesday night.
The runners-up from last season took the lead inside the opening five minutes when Dimitri Petratos danced his way around two defenders before slamming the ball past Jamie Young to open the scoring.
It was all Newcastle for the remainder of the half but were unable to direct any of their many chances on target as Brisbane hung in the game at the interval.
The Roar were able to fight back when former Newcastle Jets, Adam Taggart struck after he got on the end of a Connor O’Toole cross to score his seventh goal of the season and claw the away side back in the contest.
However, this was short lived when Roy O’Donovan got on the end of a scramble inside the box to score his second goal since returning to the side after his suspension which carried over from last season’s A-League Grand Final.
Brisbane, however, were not finished yet as Matt McKay almost equalised towards the end as his shot hit the post but some beautiful play from substitute Nicholas D’Agostino saw Bautheac get on the end of his cross to equalise late on.
This point was a major step forward for the Roar who have begun to turn a corner after their gutsy performance against Sydney this past weekend leading to a semi-reward coming in the form of a point against Newcastle.
While for the Jets, it was another opportunity gone begging for Ernie Merrick’s men who failed to close the gap on the Wellington Phoenix and still sit three points behind sixth place.
Brisbane sit another eight points behind and are still in search for their second win of the season as they host the first placed, Perth Glory on Sunday night while the Jets travel to Melbourne to take on City that same evening.
