Their finals hopes may not be completely extinguished but Newcastle Jets manager Ernie Merrick says it’s time for the youngsters to be thrown in as they prepare for next season.
Merrick was speaking in the wake of his side’s thrilling 3-2 win over Western Sydney Wanderers at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.
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REPORT: Jets v Wanderers
The Jets put faith in their crop of young stars with Joey Champness starting while Angus Thurgate came off the bench to score alongside fellow youth internationals Ivan Vujica and Kaine Sheppard.
Merrick said that although results may come quicker with experience, the Jets were choosing to look ahead.
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“We’ve not been very consistent this year but we’ve got a better chance of getting results generally with more experienced players but now that we’re going to struggle to make the finals it’s time to give some of these boys a run because next year they could play a major part,” Merrick said.
“They’re all doing well, they’re training well.
“He [Champness] looked like he was going to cause trouble. He was a little nervous in front of goal, he didn’t pull the trigger when he should have two or three times.
“He hit in a couple of good crosses for the boy at the back post and I think he showed his ability.
“I just don’t think he’s up for 90 minutes intensive play but we’ll start him again next week, Gus is putting his hand up to start as well and Ivan so it was good all round.”
Merrick was happy with how the home side worked their way back into the game after an uninspiring opening period.
“The first 15 minutes wasn’t very good,” Merrick conceded.
“It was very negative and then we started to come into the game. Once they scored we lifted and I just thought we got better and better in the second half.
“We controlled most of the game and could have scored a couple.”
Babbel laments bogey team
Most Wanderers fans would agree that 2019 has shown its fair share of green shoots as the club prepares for its much-anticipated return to Wanderland.
Sometimes though you just have to put your hand up and that’s exactly what manager Markus Babbel did in the post-match press conference.
“What can I say, Newcastle is not our team,” he said in typically blunt fashion.
“First game we dominated them, couldn’t win. Second game was 50/50, we lost 5-1 and today we dominate them, couldn’t win.”
The German lamented the basic errors in defence that gave the Jets a helping hand back into the contest.
“We started well, fantastic style of football, especially the first half,” he said.
“We created many chances, couldn’t score then we scored nearly at the end of the first half. Second half wasn’t our best half but if you see our goals [conceded] it’s too easy.
“I think they had four shots on goal and scored three goals…sometimes I wish our strikers had this space and time to score.”
