Newcastle Jets once again took to Sydney for another pre-season battle, this time against New South Wales NPL side APIA Leichardt at Valentine Sports Park.
The match was a 90-minute match (with traditional 45-minute halves) played behind closed doors and resulted in a solid performance and convincing victory for our new-look Isuzu UTE A-League side.
While the team struggled to capitalise on opportunities last time out, they managed to finish off multiple attempts with goals scored across the team.
Manager Arthur Papas was pleased with elements of the trial, but was confident they would need to improve over their final weeks of pre-season.
Arthur Papas chats prior to today’s match about our trial games
“There were some really good moments, but I would have like to see them a little more consistently over the 90 minutes,” Papas said.
“To create outcomes and get goals was one positive, a step up to the last game. In saying that, I thought we lacked a bit of fluidity with our movement and the speed of our ball movement maybe fluctuated too much.
“The main point is we got another 90 minutes under our belt, we didn’t come away with any injuries, and we get to build on this again.”
Twenty players were used in total across the two halves.
With another match in Sydney on the horizon next weekend, an injury-free performance now means the full squad is able to return to the training paddock with their sights set firmly on areas for improvement.
“I’m pleased that we were able to back up from Tuesday and get more minutes in the legs and the games are very important for the whole group,” he said.
“Come Tuesday, it looks like we’ll have every single player fit and training which is ideal with three weeks to go.”
Papas praised the challenge that APIA provided, and welcomed their testing performance.
“APIA were very aggressive, quick on transition and didn’t give us much space or time.
“Overall, I thought we did some things okay, scored some good goals but also in many situations we can and will improve.”
Our Isuzu UTE A-League will return to Sydney next weekend to face off with Macarthur FC for our final pre-season trial.
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