Newcastle Jets assistant coach Clayton Zane says the Jets are progressing well ahead of their Round 1 F3 Derby clash against the Central Coast Mariners on October 11.
The Jets had their final competitive pre-season hit out against the Young Socceroos last weekend and Zane believes there were a number of positive signs to come out of the match.
“The first 45 minutes in particular we really had control of the game and to date it’s been the best hit out of our pre-season,” Zane said.
“It gave us a chance to look at some of the players who maybe haven’t had a lot of match minutes like Marcos Flores.
 “We had control for the whole match, had a 2-0 lead until the last minute when we conceded a sloppy goal at the end.
“We need to make sure that doesn’t happen once the A-League season starts, but it was a good performance heading into the first game against the Mariners.”
Zane said the competitive nature of each player was beginning to shine through as every individual is pushing to have their name included on the team sheet for Round 1.
“There’s a bit of competition for places now and I think you can see that from training over the past week,” Zane said.
“Going into the last couple of weeks of training before the first game I think the atmosphere is going to be a bit more tense as players fight for those last few positions.”
Zane said the Jets had maintained a high level of intensity at training this week before easing off ahead of the opening game to ensure the players are fresh for the F3 Derby.
“It’s a balance, because the workload still needs to remain relatively high for the current week,” Zane explained.
“The week before the match will be a taper and probably more about reinforcing tactics and starting to look at who the personnel will be for that first game.”
Supporter bus bookings for the Jets’ Round 1 match against the Central Coast Mariners in Gosford are now open. CLICK HERE to book today!
