Emile Heskey says he is feeling good ahead of the Jets’ match against Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets striker Emile Heskey says he is feeling good ahead of the Jets- match against Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
The Jets arrived in Perth late on Thursday evening, minus midfielder Ben Kantarovski who didn-t travel with the team due to a knee injury sustained at training on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old had scans on Friday and is now waiting on the results to determine the extent of the problem.
After their long flight the previous night, the Jets shook off the cobwebs by doing some light exercise and having a kick around at Langley Park on Friday morning.
“It is a long journey, so it-s good to get the journey out of the system and get the legs going with a bit of exercise this morning,” Heskey said.
The former England international has been in a rich vein of form, scoring four goals in his last three matches for the Jets.
However, Heskey said he is not concerned with his own goal-scoring record, provided the Jets continue their winning ways.
“It’ll come and it’ll go,” he said.
“As long as I keep performing well and keep working hard – goals are goals – does it really matter who scores them?”
The Jets haven-t won in Perth since 2005 and have not scored a goal in their last four fixtures at nib Stadium.
Heskey said the entire Newcastle squad was determined to make those statistics null and void come Saturday night by notching their fourth consecutive victory in the A-League.
“Not just me, but everyone. We-re going to try and turn that around, by staying positive and trying to go into a game on a high,” he said.
“We-re going to play our game. The manager has a game plan for us and we-re going to go out and try and do that.
“We-ll watch some video of Perth today and obviously we-ve seen some of their games from before, so we-ll just analyse things as we go along.
“We-ve played four games and we just want to keep going and keep pushing. The manager has some great ideas and he-s brought in some really good young lads and helped them prosper.
“Hopefully we can just keep our foot on the pedal.”
Heskey said his integration into the Jets squad had been a smooth one and he hoped to be a role model for the younger Jets players.
“It-s been nice, they-re a good bunch of lads and they-ve helped me settle in,” he said.
“I-ve played for a long time so I suppose some of the young lads here look up to me. Hopefully I can just help them along their journey as well and help them fulfill their dreams.
“They-ve got bright futures and as long as they keep working hard and listening to the manager they-ll do well.”
