The Newcastle Jets take on Mounties Wanderers FC in a pre-season trial match at Cook Park in Mount Pritchard tonight.
The Newcastle Jets take on Mounties Wanderers FC in their fourth trial match of the pre-season at Cook Park in Mount Pritchard tonight.
After notching 3-0 wins in all of their first three trial matches against local opposition, the Jets will travel to Sydney to take on Mounties, who are currently placed third in the NSW NPL 2 competition.
The Jets have been boosted by the return of Adam Taggart, Craig Goodwin and Mark Birighitti from international duty.
Fellow Socceroos representatives Josh Brillante (illness) and Ruben Zadkovich (overseas) will not take part in the match.
Jets assistant coach Craig Deans said the playing time would be rotated amongst the available squad members.
“We-ve got a group of players who are up to 60 minutes of game time, while the boys who are coming back from the Socceroos and Young Socceroos are up for about 30 minutes,” Deans said.
“Taggart, Goodwin and Birighitti are all available for 30 minutes this week and hopefully 45 minutes next week and we-ll continue to build it up week-by-week.
“It-s been quite good this week. We-re back to 17 players training which is the first time for four to six weeks we-ve had that number of players.
“We-re getting more towards having a full squad and everyone being available to train and play.
“It-s getting better each week and hopefully by the time everyone else is back on deck, they-ll all be ready to play a full 90 minutes within the next month.”
Jets shotstopper Ben Kennedy is another addition to the match day squad and is expected to feature during the clash after completing his recover from knee surgery.
“Ben has looked really good in training this week, he-s had no problems with his knee and he-s looked sharp,” Deans said.
“He-s looked confident in himself, which is important when you-re coming back from injury.
“He just needs to play some games because he-s had quite a while out now, so it-s important for him to get some of that match sharpness back.”
Deans said the clash with Mounties will provide the Jets with another chance to improve their match fitness and work on their playing style.
“It-s another opportunity for a good hit out and to work a little bit more on the understanding of the players in a different formation that we-ve worked on a little bit this year,” Deans said.
“To have all the other players come back in right now, it will be good for them to get a feel for that system and how it works.”
Newcastle Jets v Mounties Wanderers FC
Cook Park, Mt Pritchard
Wednesday, August 7th
Kick-off 7pm
