Loading...

Jets resolve pleases coach

Thumbnail

Coach Gary van Egmond praised his team’s fighting spirit following Sunday’s come-from-behind win over Brisbane at Hunter Stadium.

Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond has lauded his team-s fighting spirit following Sunday-s come-from-behind win over Brisbane Roar at Hunter Stadium.

After conceding a goal just before half time, the Jets fought valiantly in the second half and hit back with two goals to record back to back wins for the first time this season.

In a match played in atrocious conditions due to heavy rain, the Jets struggled to create opportunities in the first half but finished the match by far the stronger as the Roar failed to adapt to the water logged surface.

“Yeah look it-s never easy to play Brisbane, obviously they went a goal up and we had to show some real resolve and get ourselves back into the game,” van Egmond said.

“Even the fact that we missed a penalty to have the opportunity to go in front we still found a way of winning the game, full credit to the players they-ve got a real strong mental resolve and its showing.”

Van Egmond revealed that the Jets worked on their resilience in the off season and their ability to hang tough when things aren-t going their way.

“We did a few things during the pre-season to try and help the boys with their mentality,” he said.

“One of those things was going to Holsworthy (army barracks) during the year and I don-t think they-ll ever do anything as hard as that.

“It really gave them a good basis, they-re pretty determined, they really want to have a successful season this year and it was great to see.”

The Jets are undefeated in their past five outings and after back-to-back wins in the last fortnight are sitting in equal third on the A-League ladder.

Although happy with their performance against Brisbane, van Egmond recognised the Roar were understrength and said the Jets must quickly shift their focus to their next opponent, an under siege Melbourne Heart.

“We-re really happy with the result today and we got the three points, but we-ve got to understand they weren-t at full strength and we need to keep our feet on the ground,” he said.

“We play Heart next week which we are looking forward to playing in front of our tremendous supporters, but they-re going to be extremely desperate and it will be another tough game.”

Watch the full press conference on Jets TV.