Gary van Egmond says the Jets will look to put last Sunday’s disappointing loss behind them when they take on Perth Glory on Friday.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets head coach Gary van Egmond says the Jets will immediately look to put last Sunday-s disappointing loss to Melbourne Victory behind them when they take on Perth Glory at Hunter Stadium this Friday.
Van Egmond said it is important the Jets do not spend too much time dwelling on their 5-0 loss to the Victory, but rather look ahead to Friday-s game against Perth as an opportunity to bounce back straight away.
“The mood was pretty sombre after a loss like that as you could imagine,” van Egmond said.
“It-s happened and we just have to pick ourselves up very, very quickly.
“The one thing that-s in our favour is that it-s a quick turnaround on Friday and just talking to a few of the boys already they can-t wait to get on the pitch and play in front of our home fans.”
The Jets have not been beaten in Newcastle in their last six matches and Van Egmond said returning to Hunter Stadium would give his side just the boost they need ahead of Friday-s game.
“We-re all in this together and it-s unfortunate what happened, but we all move on,” he said.
“It-s basically a call to arms for Friday night to get the whole of Newcastle to support us because we need these three points.
“I can understand (the fans- frustration), we obviously don-t like to get beat by such a score, but as you saw with the Victory last week, they had six scored against them by the Central Coast and then they came out and did that to us.
“The Newcastle supporters and Members have been fantastic for us all year and we want them to get out there on Friday night and really support us and act as our 12th man because we-re really looking forward to playing against Perth.”
The Jets opted to rest experienced duo Michael Bridges and Emile Heskey for Sunday-s clash against the Victory after a fixture change by the FFA left Newcastle with a strenuous schedule of four matches in 14 days.
Further depleting the Jets- line-up for the game against the Victory were injuries sustained by Sam Gallaway and Zenon Caravella in the Jets- rescheduled match against Wellington Phoenix last Wednesday night.
To make matters worse, both James Brown and James Vrigili fell ill on the eve of the match against Melbourne Victory.
Despite injuries and illness severely weakening his side, Van Egmond said he had no regrets about resting Bridges and Heskey.
“The worst thing we could have done is have some players fatigued for this game against Perth,” van Egmond said.
“We-re at home and we really need to get the three points, so it-s important for the likes of Bridgey and Emile to be nice and fresh for it.”
Victory head coach Ange Postecoglu backed van Egmond-s decision saying he would have done the same if he had been in such a situation.
“I-m not in their camp, but to be honest, if it was us we would probably have done the same thing,” Postecoglou said.
“They played Wednesday, they played Sunday and they have to turn around and play Friday.
“You know, you-ve got to be smart about these things. Gary van Egmond knows his players better than I do, and I don-t think he goes into any game not wanting to win.”
While clearly disappointed with the result, Van Egmond said his young side would hopefully learn from the experience.
“We knew we were going to have a difficult game against the Victory and it was a good experience in a way for some of these young players to see the level that you have to attain and what comes with the pressures and the way in which we want to play,” van Egmond said.
“It-s easy on the whiteboard, but a little bit more difficult putting it into practice.
“They will walk away with a good experience in regards to knowing that there are certain levels that you have to get to.
“The younger ones coming through and developing will start to get better from the experiences they-re gaining right now.
“The most important thing is that they don-t lose their confidence, they keep ensuring that their mentality is right and that-s the job for myself and the job of the older players.”
Newcastle Jets v Perth Glory
Friday, March 8
Hunter Stadium
Kick-off 7.30pm
Tickets from PROticket.
PCYC Newcastle is being supported at this week’s Jets game against the Perth Glory.
The charity box and 20 reserved seating tickets have been donated to PCYC as a reward for participants in their young offender program.
The program aims to give these youngsters a second chance, and, Senior Constable Brendan Haile will be speaking pre-game about the PCYC and its many, vital community programs.
