The Newcastle Jets are confident of moving off the bottom of the Hyundai A-League table as they head to Wellington for their postponed Round 10 match on Wednesday night.
Despite a win and a draw in their last two matches against the Central Coast and Brisbane respectively the Jets have slipped to last place on the ladder nearing the halfway point on the season.
However, Newcastle coach Branko Culina denied it was a true reflection of his side’s form and was confident of picking up points in Wednesday night’s match in Wellington and Sunday’s home clash with the Queensland Fury.
“It is not really last because we have a game in hand so even if we pick up a point we will jump a couple of places,” Culina told Sportal.
“We know that the next two games are really critical for us in terms of where we might be at the end of the year. If we were in the position that we picked up six points from these games we would be fourth on the table after the weekend.”
“So the whole idea is to see where we are and by Sunday’s result I think we will have a better reflection.”
Newcastle has made a number of changes to its side for Wednesday night’s clash.
Defensive midfielder Adam D’Apuzzo misses the match through suspension while Ben Kantarovski is on international duty with the Qantas Young Socceroos.
Marquee man Fabio Vignaroli has been left at home in Newcastle to keep fresh for Sunday’s clash with the Fury. Sean Rooney is still sidelined with an injury while Ljubo Milicevic is only a 50-50 prospect after three weeks out with a bruised heel.
Jobe Wheelhouse looks likely to replace D’Apuzzo in the staring side while Kaz Patafta will come in for Kantarovski and Ali Abbass for Vignaroli should Milicevic miss the match.
Despite the changes Culina said his side was confident in taking on a Phoenix team that had crashed back down to earth with a 3-1 loss to Sydney last week after soaring to their best ever win with a 6-0 drubbing of the Gold Coast the week before.
“I don’t know what is worse – if they had won their confidence would be sky high or now that they have lost?” he said. “But at the end of the day I am more worried about us than I am about Wellington.”
“We have had a couple of good results in the last two games and that makes everyone feel a bit better.”
“We have got D’Apuzzo suspended and Sean Rooney is not quite recovered from his injury but other than that we have a few niggling injuries but I don’t think any players will be forced to miss the game.”
“They are not going to be 100 percent and by Sunday they will be feeling it that is for sure.”
