Newcastle Jets striker Emile Heskey is looking forward to the challenge of taking on competition front runners the Brisbane Roar.
Newcastle Jets striker Emile Heskey believes this weekend-s clash with Brisbane Roar is an opportunity to test themselves against the A-League benchmark.
The Jets return to Hunter Stadium on Sunday full of confidence after recording their first win of the season against Adelaide on Saturday.
“For me, they are probably the best team in the A-League as in football wise, you put yourself up against the best and hopefully that can bring out the best in us,” Heskey said.
“You want to put great performances in to show them what you are capable of doing, this weekend is no different.”
After missing the opening four rounds due a knee injury, Heskey played 25 minutes as a second half substitute against the Reds on the weekend.
While he has been gradually regaining match fitness, Heskey believes the team have been steadily improving their performances over the past few weeks.
“The boys have been brilliant, their work rate has been outstanding, we-ve managed to create quite a few chances and score to, they-re doing brilliantly,” he said.
“The good thing is we are creating chances, with a little bit of luck we can start putting them away.
Heskey felt the team-s breakthrough win against Adelaide has given the squad confidence but insisted they needed to work on their ability to kill off games when they are dominating.
“It was good, it was probably something that we didn-t want but we battled it out and the lads did brilliantly,” he said.
“They fought themselves into a lead and we could have been easier on ourselves if we took a few of the chances that we had before and they were quite good chances.
“We-re playing some decent football, we-re going in the right direction and we-ve got some great players here so the only way is up.”
The Jets sit in sixth spot after the opening five rounds and Heskey felt the team needed to capitalise on their home matches to ensure they stay there.
“That-s the aim, we-ve got to do it on the pitch we can-t talk about it, we-re working hard on the training pitch and hopefully we can do that,” he said.
“Everyone wants to improve their home record, at the end of the day you want to make it into a fortress, people have to be scared to come here.”
Homegrown winger Andrew Hoole has been a standout for the Jets in recent weeks and Heskey believes the 19 year-old-s enthusiasm and incisiveness have been a feature of the Jets play.
“Andrew-s been brilliant, even last year when he came in he was a breath of fresh air for us, he played right back and he-s just got a great mentality,” he said.
“He just wants to go out there and play, he doesn-t over-think things, he just goes out there and plays his game.”
CLICK HERE to get your ticket for Sunday’s game at Hunter Stadium.