Zenon Caravella will make his return to the Newcastle Jets starting line-up for Friday night’s clash with Adelaide United.
Zenon Caravella will make his return to the Newcastle Jets starting line-up for Friday night-s clash with Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Caravella has been included in the Jets- 19-man squad for the fixture against his former club after completing a full training session at Ray Watt Oval on Wednesday morning.
Jets head coach Gary van Egmond said he was pleased to have Caravella back.
“We-ve got Zenon Caravella coming back into the squad and he-ll come straight back into the starting line-up,” van Egmond said.
“He got through a full training session today and had no problems with his hamstring.
“I think Zenon helps with our build-up in controlling the game and getting the ball forward.
“His positioning is very good, he doesn-t turn the ball over very much at all and he really works well there with a good blend between him and Ruben (Zadkovich).
“Zenon gives good leadership, not even so much from a talking point of view, but just by the way that he acts and dictates play and other players gain a lot of confidence with him being in that team.”
Van Egmond indicated that Josh Brillante will be shifted from midfield to right-back in order to make room for Caravella.
“Apart from that, here might be one or two differences in the squad, but it will pretty much be the same eleven that took the park the other night,” van Egmond said.
Taylor Regan is once again available for selection after serving a one-match ban against Perth Glory last week.
“Taylor or Scott Neville could feature on the bench, but it is a game that we have to win, so we have to ensure we have some attacking players coming off the bench,” van Egmond said.
“It-s more so looking at the front third players who can make an impact.”
Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Ben Kennedy (gk), 2. Scott Neville, 3. Zenon Caravella, 5. Dominik Ritter, 7. James Brown, 8. Ruben Zadkovich, 10. Bernardo Ribeiro, 11. Connor Chapman, 12. Josh Brillante, 14. Taylor Regan, 15. Craig Goodwin, 17. James Virgili, 18. Jacob Pepper, 19. Michael Bridges, 20. Mark Birighitti (gk), 21. Marko Jesic, 22. Adam Taggart, 25. Mitch Cooper, 26. Andrew Hoole.
Ins: Zenon Caravella (returns from injury), Taylor Regan (returns from suspension)
Outs: Nil.
Unavailable: Ben Kantarovski (knee), Emile Heskey (calf), Sam Gallaway (knee).
