Zenon Caravella believes the Jets’ finals destiny is still in their own hands heading into Saturday’s clash with Wellington Phoenix.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets midfielder Zenon Caravella believes the Jets- finals destiny is still in their own hands heading into Saturday-s clash with Wellington Phoenix at Hunter Stadium.
The Jets sit two points adrift of sixth-placed Adelaide United with four rounds remaining but face the eight-placed Phoenix and bottom-placed Perth Glory in their next two fixtures.
“The next four games are going to be so important for us and it-s really starting to get to that crunch time and we can-t afford to drop any more points,” Caravella said.
“We-ve missed a couple of opportunities to really cement ourselves in the top six, so the last four games is almost like finals for us really.
“We-re definitely making our own destiny still, the other results went our way over the weekend but we-re not doing the maths yet, it-s still there for us to win.”
The Jets suffered a 3-2 loss at home to the Phoenix in round 18 and Caravella believes the team must start well in order to secure the three points this weekend.
“The last time we played Wellington we obviously started very slow but I for a large part of the game I thought we played well,” he said.
“I think the first 15-20 minutes of every game at home especially we need to really show them that we-re at home and set the tone.
“So we just need to really come out firing in front of the home crowd, if we can get an early goal I think we can control the game.
“We-ll just stick to the game plan, we-ve played them twice already this year so we know what they-re all about and hopefully we-ll get the result.”
The Jets suffered a disappointing 3-1 loss the Mariners in the F3 derby on Saturday night but Caravella admitted there were positives to take out of the clash despite the result.
“It was disappointing because the team hasn-t won there for a long time but if you sit back and look at the game and how we played you can take a lot of positives away from that,” he said.
“That-s what you-ve got to do when you have those games you-ve just got to take the positives out of it, I thought we did well and we-ll take that into the next game.”
The Jets play three of their last four fixtures at home and while not looking too far ahead Caravella is confident the team can propel themselves into the finals.
“Yeah exactly, it-s what everyone wants to do in the A-League, if you-re not playing in the Asian Champions League, then you want to make the finals,” he said.
“Now is as good a time as ever, we-ve got a great mix and we-re still a chance.
“If we get there then you don-t know what can happen, it-s any team on the day and I think on our day if we put it together we can be a great team.”
Newcastle Jets v Wellington Phoenix
Saturday, March 22
Hunter Stadium
Kick-off 5.30pm
Tickets available from PROticket.
