Newcastle will look to keep the pressure on Wellington Phoenix in the race for a top six spot with a big win over Perth Glory in Thursday night’s Hyundai A-League clash at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Wellington’s 2-0 loss to Sydney FC on Wednesday has left the door open for the Jets to sneak into the finals if the Newcastle club can win handsomely in their remaining two matches and if the Phoenix are beaten at home by the Fury in their final-round fixture.
“You never what can happen in football, it is still a tall order to ask considering they (Phoenix) play the Fury at home in their last match,” Jets coach Branko Culina told Sportal.
“So it is an outside chance but we will go in there and give it a shot. We always go into every game aiming to get the three points and that is how it will be against Perth.”
However the Jets will have to win a host of youth players in the line-up due to the fact that they still have up to 10 players on the injury list, including key defender Adam D’Apuzzo who looks likely to miss this match due to an ankle injury.
“Ryan Griffiths will be back from suspension but Marcelo (Fiorentini) will still be out. But it looks like we will be without Adam, so one comes in, one comes out.”
“But again that was the pleasing thing about the other night, Sydney were a near full strength team. We had a bunch of kids in there and we were more likely to get the three points.”
“But we have been playing without luck all season. So hopefully some might come our way in the final two matches.”
