“It’s going to be a tough game, obviously going back to my old club, they’re a good outfit… and playing some good football,” Birighitti said.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets goalkeeper Mark Birighitti is looking forward to playing his former Club when the Jets travel to Adelaide on Saturday night.
Birighitti made his A-League debut with Adelaide United in 2008 against Brisbane Roar before deciding to join the Jets at the beginning of last season.
He spent four years at the Reds as the understudy to Eugene Galekovic and decided to join the Jets with the opportunity to play regular football.
The Perth-born custodian reveled in his first full season in the A-League making 22 appearances for the Jets and taking out the clubs- Player of the Year award.
But Birighitti remains thankful for the opportunity the Adelaide provided him and is excited to face his old team this weekend.
“It-s going to be a tough game, obviously going back to my old club, they-re a good outfit with a new coach and playing some good football,” he said.
“It was the club that gave me my first opportunity as a young kid, I spent four quality years there and I-ve still got family and friends there.
“To go back there and to get three points with the Jets would be a massive boost.”
His standout performances with the Jets last season lead to his selection in the Socceroos squad for the East Asian Cup in July, where had made his senior debut against China.
Birighitti has been pleased with his performances in the opening four rounds which includes two clean sheets, but admits he can still improve as a player.
“Keeping two clean sheets this season has been a pretty good start, on the weekend I think I could have done maybe a little better with that second goal,” he said.
“It-s a massive season, there-s a lot of expectation in that second year, but coming back from the Socceroos when I was in China definitely gave me a real buzz and I came back a totally different person.
“I was just more confident and it felt like inside me I wasn-t going to be beaten in training and in games, so it-s a big year and hopefully I can continue this form.”
After his strong start to the campaign Birighitti hopes to mount a case for another Socceroos call-up, especially with a World Cup in Brazil next year looming.
“With a new Socceroos coach at the moment, if I can keep performing the way I-m going I don-t see why I can-t get called into another camp,” he said.
“There-s a lot of good goal keepers out there, you never know with injuries a door might open, so I-ve just got to keep performing and hopefully I get another call up.
The players were disappointed not to take all three points against the Mariners on the weekend but are confident they are moving in the right direction.
“It was a disappointing result in the end to be two-nil up and to concede two goals late in the game was definitely disappointing,” Birighitti added.
“In saying that, we didn-t lose the game and there were a lot of positives to take out of the game, scoring at home in front of our fantastic supporters, it was good to get that duck of our back.
“Hopefully we can build on that and take that confidence into the game this weekend against Adelaide.”
