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Roar coach doesn’t blame Bon Jovi for loss

Brisbane Roar coach Mike Mulvey doesn’t blame Jon Bon Jovi or Taylor Swift for his side’s upset A-League loss at the hands of Newcastle on Friday night.

But Jets coach Gary Van Egmond might want to shake their hands if he is ever to meet the rock and pop idols.

Successive concerts at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane inside of two weeks left the pitch tattered and scarred, with only a portion of the northern end re-turfed in the lead-up to the match.

Mulvey lamented poor ball speed in the loss, but refused to blame the pitch.

“It was the same for both teams, we just weren’t quite on our game,” he said.

“No issue.”

But Van Egmond said the scrappy surface played perfectly into his side’s strategy of playing a compact defence and getting men in front of the ball.

“It wasn’t an easy game to try and play through the middle with so many bodies in there,” he said.

“The way the pitch was probably helped us.

“We played to the conditions as much as possible.”

Newcastle has emerged as a bogey side for Brisbane, who have now lost four of their last five encounters against the Jets.

Van Egmond joked that “the direct flight from Newcastle” could be the reason for their success, but firmly believes Brisbane’s consistency was the key to their undoing.

“It’s pretty well much a given … what you’re going to expect,” he said.

“You can play some other teams and you’re not too sure.

“With Brisbane you do know what’s going to happen.”

Mulvey said he doesn’t believe in losses you have to have, but conceded the 2-0 result was a “wake up call” for his squad.

“I don’t think we have to have any losses,” he said.

“What this is, is a wake up call to us.

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

“It’s the first game for a while we haven’t scored in.

“We’ll take our medicine, we’re big enough and ugly enough to be able to deal with that.”

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