The Newcastle Jets have finished the W-League eighth with only seven points after a 3-0 loss to championship contenders Brisbane at Lions Stadium on Sunday night.
In what was the story of their season, Newcastle matched the Roar in most parts of the game except on the scoresheet in their final appearance of the season.
The Jets had several chances go begging while Brisbane proved lethal from the set piece with all three goals coming from corners.
The hosts took a 1-0 lead in the 41st minute when the ball was cleared out of the box only to have Tameka Yallop send it back in and find W-League leading scorer Emily Gielnik for a near-post header which was swatted away by Jets goalkeeper Claire Coelho but fell to Kaitlyn Torpey to tap in at the far post.
Gielnik then headed in from a corner in the 47th minute before Mariel Hecher scored from close range in the 81st after Clare Polkinghorne had nodded on the ball.
The result elevated Brisbane to 25 points, on equal footing with Sydney but into top spot with a superior goal difference. The Sky Blues play Melbourne Victory (23), who sealed their semi-finals berth with a 6-0 rout of last-placed Perth earlier on Sunday, on Wednesday night.
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Canberra (22) drew 0-0 with Sydney on Friday night to secure fourth place and put Adelaide (22) out of the finals on goal difference.
Jets coach Ash Wilson felt their final game was still wide open at the break.
"We spent a bit of time during the week trying to play forward quickly and get in behind and I thought in the first half we did that," Wilson said. "We created a few chances and at half-time we were still pretty confident that we had the ability to get back into it and to score a number of goals.
"Obviously, copping a goal early in the second half takes the wind out of your sails a little bit, and I guess it was a little bit of a similar story from the rest of the season in just consistency at times needed to be higher, execution and quality in key moments, and just being a little bit more composed.
"They seemed to be the themes of the season but there were definitely lots of positives to take away from it."
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