Newcastle United Jets were undone by the Australian Griffiths boys in their opening Asian Champions League football clash, as they lost 2-0 away to Chinese club Beijing Guoan although Central Coast Mariners drew 0-0 at home against Pohang Steelers.

While much of the pre-match focus centred on striker Joel, who was on loan to Beijing from the Jets, it was his younger sibling Ryan who inflicted a grievous early blow, by sliding the ball home from six metres in the seventh minute of the game at Beijing Workers Stadium.

Joel had a relatively quiet game but exploded into life in the final quarter.

He was sent clear in the 71st minute but blazed his shot over the bar and five minutes later nodded a corner just wide of the target.

Joel set up substitute Du Wenhui for their second goal in second half stoppage time.

Debutants Central Coast Mariners overcame a nervous start to earn a 0-0 draw with Korea Republic’s Pohang Steelers in a fiercely contested AFC Champions League group match.

The Mariners were full value for their first point worth $US20,000 in the competition’s Group H that includes Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale and China’s Tianjin Teda.

Steady rain during the day limited the crowd to only 6870 fans but the Bluetongue Stadium patrons were able to enjoy an uncompromising match that had few scoring chances but plenty of positive aggressive play from both sides with no quarter asked or given.

In the end the share of the spoils was a true reflection of the balance of play.

AAP