Queensland Roar has regained top spot in the Hyundai A-League following a thumping 5-0 win over the New Zealand Knights at Suncorp Stadium.

The Roar's five-star performance sees it leapfrog Melbourne Victory ahead of its round four clash with the still goalless Central Coast Mariners on Sunday.

Socceroos midfielder Matt McKay was granted the freedom of Suncorp to open the scoring in the sixth minute - at which point it already looked as though Queensland would run away with the match.

McKay, the 23-year-old who stepped up to make his senior international debut last month against Kuwait, received a well-weighted through ball from Brazilian striker Reinaldo and finished through debutant Michael Turnbull's legs.

But the Roar never capitalised on its early dominance and allowed an adventurous New Zealand to creep back into the contest, with poor finishing from former favourite Jonti Richter who twice let his old team off the hook.

In the second half Miron Bleiberg's side showed a greater intensity and effectively killed the match when referee Mark Shield awarded Queensland its first-ever penalty in its 25th A-League outing.

Sime Kovacevic pulled back Reinaldo deep in the Knights' penalty area and the beanpole forward picked himself up to send Turnbull the wrong way.

Chances then fell to Remo Buess, twice to Ante Milicic and Spase Dilevski before Simon Lynch scored his third goal in four games with a trademark finish.

After just six minutes into his league debut, Chinese import Yuning Zhang unselfishly set up Milicic for the veteran attacker's first goal for Queensland.

And to cap off a remarkable night in Brisbane, McKay pounced after Turnbull could only parry a ferocious Zhang strike four minutes from time to extend Queensland's unbeaten run to nine games.

In round five, Queensland hosts reigning premier Adelaide United while New Zealand welcomes champion Sydney FC to North Harbour Stadium.

Roar coach Miron Bleiberg said his men needed a shake-up at half-time after stopping playing following the opening goal.

"There were some communication problems so we had an open discussion at half-time to rectify the problem.

"The second-half we played like the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra. It was good and enjoyable to watch.

"Also the fact that we have so much firepower on the bench the opposition started to get tired.

"We could bring on quality on top of quality on top of quality - I think that was the final killer.

"Once we scored the second one, they knew and we knew there was no way back for them."

Knights boss Paul Nevin remained positive.

"We can't afford to feel sorry for ourselves. I might have to tweak a couple of things but I think it's all about confidence and belief. And that's what we've got to get back.

"The players have shown they're very capable of competing. We need to capitalise on our good passages of play. We're letting teams off the hook at key moments and they're punishing us when they have the same opportunities."

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