Skipper Matt Thompson and his teammates have their sights set on reclaiming fourth spot on the competition ladder.
Reclaiming fourth spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder is the prime objective of the Newcastle Jets this week.
Both Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix took the opportunity to leapfrog the Novocastrians this weekend after Saturday night-s round 25 match against North Queensland Fury at Dairy Farmers Stadium was postponed due to the heavy rain caused by tropical cyclone Olga.
The crucial clash will now take place tomorrow evening, and could prove pivotal in shaping the ultimate destiny of both teams leading into the finals.
However, Jets captain Matt Thompson believes that neither the re-scheduling of the match nor the extreme conditions that the team has experienced in Townsville will be a distraction to the determined Jets.
“It would have been ideal to play when we were scheduled to play,” he said. “But we had a training session yesterday, which was good, we-ll have another this afternoon and with a seven-thirty kick-off tomorrow it-s going to be humid but nothing too different to what we-ve experienced in Newcastle, so we should be sweet.”
The team that finishes fourth this season is guaranteed a home game in week 1 of the 2010 finals series and, given the logistics that would accompany a likely away game in either Perth or Wellington, the importance of a top four spot is magnified.
It-s a fact not lost on Thompson and his Jets teammates as they look to appear in their fourth finals series since the inception of the Hyundai A-League five seasons ago.
“We want to make sure that we get that home final, so we have to make sure that we start tomorrow with three points because if we lose we make it very hard on ourselves, not only for the next two games but if we get into the top six it-s going to be a very tough run to go all the way.”
“So we want to make it as easy as possible, so to speak, coming into the finals and that starts with a win tomorrow night against the Fury,” Thompson said earlier today.
