The Jets may have claimed a thrilling 2-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners in a feisty F3 derby on Saturday evening but Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond was not fully satisfied with the victory.
The Jets may have claimed a thrilling 2-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners in a feisty F3 derby on Saturday evening but Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond was not fully satisfied with the victory.
The Jets were handed a penalty in the fourth minute and added a second goal when marquee Emile Heskey poked home on the hour mark.
But the Mariners fought back to make it 2-1 with just under 20 minutes left and looked like they had snatched a share of the points when Patrick Zwaanswijk headed a long ball into the net in injury time only for the play to be called back for offside as the Jets clung on for their second win of the season.
“I was reasonably happy today with the performance. But I don’t think it is something you can hang your hat on,” van Egmond said after the match.
“You have to play better than that if you are going to be a force this year.
“I was pretty disappointed when I thought Zwannswijk had scored.
“We had worked so hard to get the win but luckily it was offside – but you put things in place and hopefully the boys carry them out.
“Overall, the Central Coast, performance wise, was the better team, but we were a little bit hungrier for it.”
What did please van Egmond was the character shown by his players.
In a typically rugged derby encounter that saw nine yellow cards dished out by referee Ben Williams the Newcastle side displayed plenty of grit and determination to repel a marauding Mariners outfit, particularly in the final 20 minutes of the match.
The Jets also looked threatening when they had their chance to go forward.
“When the ball goes in that front third is that we always look like there are goals in us – we look dangerous,” van Egmond said.
“I think what we were trying to do with the pressing in the first half and we got that wrong with positioning and which player takes who.
“We started to get that right in the second half and it made it a little bit easier for us to close players down but overall I thought their energy was pretty good and their attitude was great.
“It was great to see the character of the team come through.
“We’ve still got some work to do and we are under no illusion about that. I was very happy with their attitude and their effort.
“We talked about character – this is the type of game to see what type of character you have as an individual and as a team.”
The Jets coach praised his backline as they held firm and also singled out the performance of young winger James Virgili who had his best game for the club highlighted by a sparkling weaving run from the right flank to set up Heskey’s goal.
“It was good for young James and it was good to see him put in a performance like that. He is another young Newcastle boy coming through and he is going to derive a lot of confidence from that as well,” van Egmond said.
“In terms of the backline, we have worked on our defensive shape and made sure we were a lot thriftier in terms of conceding goals but on the transition we have to be better.
“We have to be better when we win that ball and getting people into position, not having so many touches and creating better rhythm in our build up.
“That is definitely something we have to work on.”
