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Letter: Pepper pens his thoughts ahead of #NEWvSYD

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Newcastle Jets midfielder Jacob Pepper looks back at the Club’s win over Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park last Friday, and ahead to the team’s final home match of the campaign against Sydney FC this Friday.

What a win against Victory! All the boys were back working hard at training this morning, buzzing after an important result and looking forward to another big game coming up this week. 

There’s no shying away from the fact that it has been a tough season on and off the pitch for the Jets, however for everyone involved with the Club Friday night’s win over Melbourne Victory was undoubtedly a highlight of our campaign. As a squad we really dug in and had a go — we worked in a unified, determined manner against one of the competition’s best teams, and one of the clubs we would expect to go on and challenge for silverware this Hyundai A-League season. 

Hopefully many of you tuned in to watch us upset Melbourne Victory 1-0. It was superb having a small but passionate knot of Jets Members and fans inside AAMI Park cheering us on, and we were humbled and honoured to celebrate with them at full time.

This Friday marks our final home match of Hyundai A-League season 10, and it’s against Sydney FC our big city rivals. Like Melbourne Victory, Graham Arnold’s Sky Blues are in the hunt for the Premiers Plate, and since we lost 1-0 to them at Hunter Stadium in early March they’ve crushed the likes of Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory to the tune of 3-0 in their games on the road.

So it goes without saying just how tough Friday’s fixture against Sydney FC will be. But as a playing group, staff and Club we are buoyed by our win against Victory and eager to take that momentum into this Friday’s game, perform strongly, and give our fans an exciting 90 minutes of football to conclude the home season. 

We hope you and as many of our supporters as possible can make Friday’s fixture which kicks off at Hunter Stadium at 7:45pm. We are as disappointed as you with our league position and points tally, but we can feel the momentum building in our improved performances over the last three weeks and we invite all fans to get behind us. Loud, proud Novocastrian support inside Hunter Stadium could help make all the difference against Sydney, who are sure to have their own boisterous support in Newcastle in the form of The Cove. 

Help get us over the line by attending Friday’s match, get to the Stadium nice and early to make the most of the pre-game activities which includes a massive display from the Army, Navy and Air Force (Defence Force Recruiting) at the main western stand entrance. 

Jacob Pepper 
Newcastle Jets