The Newcastle Jets will travel to the City of Churches, as they take on Adelaide United in their Round 6 Hyundai A-League clash.
The fixture represents the start of a big month in the Jets’ 2017/18 campaign with fixtures against Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City to follow.
Ernie Merrick’s chargers will be looking to continue their unbeaten run this season, as they face an Adelaide side on the back of two straight losses.
“Adelaide will be a difficult prospect, they’re tenacious, well structured and enjoy a good record at home,” said Merrick.
“They’ve had a good run in the FFA Cup and shown how they can play, and they’ll be coming at us out of the blocks as they look to take the three points at home.
“We certainly enjoy when teams open up against us, it allows us to play an entertaining, attacking style of football – I think we’ve got plenty of goals in us.”
Merrick acknowledges the trip to South Australia will be a test for his side and he expects a tough challenge from the FFA Cup finalists.
“It’s always difficult to play at what is a fantastic, boutique stadium (Coopers Stadium) – which boasts a vocal and hostile home crowd,” Merrick added.
“That’s something that we need to learn to cope with, and the boys are excited about the challenge and are going over with the confidence that a five game unbeaten run brings.
“We’re coming off what I felt was our most complete performance of the season (against Wellington) and now it’s about building that consistency to perform week-to-week for the full 90 minutes.”
Jets’ marksman, Roy O’Donovan added a further two goals to his season tally in what has been a blistering start to this Hyundai A-League campaign.
Merrick will go into the clash with Adelaide with a largely unchanged squad, with the exception of veteran keeper, Glen Moss who is currently on international duty with the All Whites.
Moss is replaced by another veteran, as Ivan Necevski returns to Newcastle after previously enjoying a stint in Hunter during the 2006/07 season.
Jets’ skipper, Nigel Boogaard will also play his 200th A-League game, and as fate would have it, do so against a club that he played almost 100 games for.
By the numbers:
- Newcastle Jets have won their last two games away from home and will be looking for a third consecutive road win for the first time in A-League history.
- Newcastle has scored 13 goals so far this season, four more than any other team.
- Nigel Boogaard is set to line up for his 200th A-League appearance, and his 13th against Adelaide United.
- Roy O’Donovan has enjoyed the equal best start to an A-League season ever, with seven goals in five games.
Saturday 11 November 2017
Adelaide United v Newcastle Jets
Coopers Stadium, Adelaide
Kick-Off: 5.05pm (local time) 5.35pm (AEDT)
Referee: Jarred Gillett
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 501 from 5pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 4 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: myfootballnation.com (5AA, 2SM and Sport FM). ABC News on Radio, Online & via the ABC Listen App – A-League Live.
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #ADLvNEW
Newcastle Jets squad: 1.Jack DUNCAN (gk), 3.Jason HOFFMAN, 4.Nigel BOOGAARD, 5.Ben KANTAROVSKI, 6.Steven UGARKOVIC, 7.Dimitri PETRATOS, 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 10.Wayne BROWN, 12.Mario SHABOW, 13.Ivan VUJICA, 15.Andrew NABBOUT, 16.Nick COWBURN, 18.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS, 19.Kosta PETRATOS, 22.Lachlan JACKSON, 24.Joe CHAMPNESS, 30.Ivan NECEVSKI (gk), 44.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 18.Johnny Koutroumbis (promoted), 22.Lachlan JACKSON (promoted), 30.Ivan NECEVSKI (promoted)
Outs: 20.Glen MOSS (international duty)
Unavailable: 8.Ronald VARGAS (ankle – indefinite), 17.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI (hamstring – 3 weeks)
Adelaide United squad: 1.Daniel MARGUSH (gk), 2.Michael MARRONE, 4.Ben WARLAND, 7.Ryan KITTO, 8.ISAÍAS (c), 9.Baba DIAWARA, 10.Karim MATMOUR, 12.Mark OCHIENG, 14.George BLACKWOOD, 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 17.Nikola MILEUSNIC, 19.Ben GARUCCIO, 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 23.Jordan ELSEY, 24.Jordan O’DOHERTY, 28.Kristin KONSTANDOPOULOS, 29.Ryan STRAIN, 37.Daniel ADLUNG
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 9.Baba DIAWARA (returns from injury), 28.Kristin KONSTANDOPOULOS (promoted), 29.Ryan STRAIN (promoted)
Outs: 25.Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS (not selected)
Unavailable: 5.Taylor REGAN (ankle – 5-6 weeks), 6.Vince LIA (knee – 2-3 weeks), 11.Johan ABSALONSEN (thigh – 3-4 weeks), 21.Tarek ELRICH (knee – long term), 22.Ersan GÜLÜM (lung – 2-3 weeks)
