Ben Kantarovski says he is feeling refreshed and looking forward to taking on Melbourne Victory at Hunter Stadium tonight.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets midfielder Ben Kantarovski says he is feeling refreshed and looking forward to taking on Melbourne Victory at Hunter Stadium tonight.
After coming off the bench in the Jets- 1-0 loss to Perth Glory last week, Kantarovski is expected to start in the centre of midfield against the Victory tonight.
“I was disappointed not to play against Perth, because I want to play every game and that-s been my goal from the start of the season,” Kantarovski said.
“It was disappointing to be left out, but we-ve worked on a few things during the week and freshened up a lot.”
“It-s good to be back and I think a little bit of a rest has done me a bit of good and freshened me up, now I-m just looking forward to getting out there and trying to get three points.”
Kantarovski has been one of the Jets- standout performers over the early part of the 2013/14 season.
The former Olyroo put his solid form down to consistency of matches and training.
“It-s just been getting those consecutive games under my belt and playing week-in, week-out,” Kantarovski said.
“I didn-t want to lose any momentum, but the coaching staff felt it was best for the team, so we did what we had to and we-ll look to move forward with a good result this weekend.”
Kantarovski said the Jets would have to be wary of the Victory who will be hurting after a 3-0 loss at home to Brisbane Roar last weekend.
“I think they didn-t play their greatest football last match and they will be looking to come out all guns blazing even though they-re away from home,” Kantarovski said.
“I think we-re going to lot to put it to them as well, we-re at home and we-ve lost two matches in row and we definitely don-t want to make that three.”
Kantarovski said the importance of tonight-s match was not lost of the Jets- players.
“It-s our whole season pretty much in a nutshell,” he said.
“If we want to keep moving forward and be one of those top contending teams we-ve got to win these games and can-t afford to have three losses in a row.”
Newcastle Jets v Melbourne Victory
Friday, January 10
Hunter Stadium
Kick-off 7.30pm
Tickets available from PROticket.