Newcastle Jets midfielder Wayne Brown has claimed his team could be the fittest in the Hyundai A-League and he hopes their ability to score late will see them push further up the table.
The Jets have scored half of their 20 goals in the final half hour of matches this season, while just four of their 24 goals conceded have come in the same period.
Last week, Morten Nordstrand struck Newcastle’s winner in the 84th minute as the Jets stunned Brisbane Roar 3-2.
REPORT:Â Jets shock Roar in five-goal thriller at Suncorp
It was the third time in their last four games that Newcastle secured points with a decisive goal in the final 30 minutes and Brown believes that proves the Jets are able to overrun their opponents at the end of matches.
“If you look at the performances, you know, we’re strong all the way to the end of the game,” he said on Tuesday.
“You know, we never give up and we score late goals, so in order to do that you have to be fitter and stronger.”
Brown missed the second half of Saturday’s win in Brisbane as he was substituted at half-time to dash back to Newcastle in order to be at the hospital when his wife gave birth to their second son.
“I was messaging her and she was pretty calm,” he said.
“She wasn’t like ‘it’s going to come now’ but there was a little bit of a delay on the plane, so I was a little bit worried, you know, would we get there in time?Â
“But as soon as I got off the plane I was running.”
With mother and baby at home following the eventual birth late on Sunday, Brown has now turned his focus to Sunday’s clash with Perth Glory at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Newcastle’s 2-1 win away to Glory on December 10 kick-started their current revival with three wins and a draw in five games taking them into the A-League’s top six.
Brown hopes to see a similar performance against Perth this week.
“That was, for me, the best performance of the season and the most enjoyable game,” the Englishman said.
“If we can do the stuff that we did that day and try and perform like we did then hopefully we can get the three points and push on again.”
