The Newcastle Jets will look to keep top spot in the NBN State League against Charlestown City Blues on Saturday.
The Newcastle Jets youth team will be looking to maintain their position at the top of the NBN State League ladder when they take on the Charlestown City Blues at Lisle Carr Oval on Saturday.
The Jets are currently level with Broadmedow Magic on 15 points, with Charlestown just one win away in third spot.
Jets A-League assistant coach Craig Deans, along with Jets youth team assistant coach James Pascoe, has been overseeing the Jets youth team in recent weeks.
Deans said he was expecting a tough test against the Blues on Saturday.
“Obviously their results have been good. They-ve got a group of players that know each other pretty well and they-ve been together for a couple of years,” Deans said.
“They seem to be pretty well organised and well coached and they-re going to be another difficult opposition on the weekend.”
The Jets will be looking to bounce back against Charlestown after they suffered their first loss of the season, going down 2-1 to the Edgeworth Eagles last Sunday.
“The result obviously wasn-t a positive one, but I think the actual experience of the game and the challenges that they came up against was good for them,” Deans explained.
“It was good to be under pressure for the whole 90 minutes and not be in control of the game, which they have been in previous weeks.
“As long as they took something from the game and can apply it if they find themselves in that situation again, that-s the main focus of what they-re doing in that competition. It was a good learning experience for them.”
The Jets stuck to their playing philosophy despite being put under pressure by the Eagles and Deans said that mantra was unlikely to change.
“That-s the whole point. It-s easy to get the goalkeeper to put it down and kick it as far away from our own goals as possible to try and minimise the damage, but again that goes against the principles that we-re trying to instil in the team,” he said.
“They need to learn to control the game and that involves playing out from the back, even if it-s under a bit of pressure. That-s the path we-re taking and we-re not going to deviate from that.”
Match Details:
NBN Northern NSW State League
Newcastle Jets v Charlestown City Blues
Lisle Carr Oval, Whitebridge
Saturday, May 19
Kick-off 2:30pm
