Newcastle Jets forward James Virgili says he is steadily growing in confidence after bagging his seventh goal of the pre-season in the match against Sydney FC.
Newcastle Jets forward James Virgili says he is steadily growing in confidence after bagging his seventh goal of the pre-season in the Jets- trial match against Sydney FC in Wollongong on Saturday night.
Virgili had a golden opportunity to give the Jets the lead in the sixth minute of the match, but was thwarted in a one-on-one situation by Sydney goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic.
However, the 21-year-old was able to put the missed opportunity behind him, scoring what proved to be the match-winner with a composed finish in the 53rd minute.
“It was great to score another goal, especially against an A-League team this time,” Virgili said.
“I was pretty filthy with myself in the first half for missing that chance I had and I wanted to try and make up for that by making sure I scored in the second half.
“I just wanted to make sure that if I did get a chance again that I didn-t hesitate as much as I did in the first half.
“With the goal I scored I backed myself, was confident and just hit it.
“Hopefully I can keep scoring goals now and I can carry that form into the season.”
Virgili-s pace and direct play proved to be a constant thorn in the side of the Sky Blues- defence on Saturday, with the winger creating a number of headaches for Sydney fullback Marc Warren.
“Gary always tells me if I have my defender one-on-one to just go at him,” Virgili said.
“Emile came on in the second half after I-d already beaten my defender a couple of times and he told me to keep on getting at him as well.
“That was the information I was getting and thankfully it paid off.”
The Jets are due to face Sydney FC in the Hyundai A-League season opener at Allianz Stadium on October 11.
Both teams fielded understrength line-ups in Saturday-s trial and no doubt kept a couple of aces up their sleeves for Round 1.
However, Virgili said the weekend-s result could give the Jets a slight mental edge of the Sky Blues when they meet next.
“Especially because we play Sydney FC in in Round 1, that gives us a little bit of confidence going into that game and mentally we kind of have it over them now,” Virgili said.
“Come the first round, the result might be in the back of their minds and that should help us.”
