THE Newcastle Jets have won their opening two games for the first time in club history and sit third on the A-League ladder with a game in hand.
And coach Arthur Papas has a message for the success-starved Jets faithful - we have only just started.
The Jets stormed past Wellington Phoenix 3-1 at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday. The win was in contrast to the last-gasp 2-1 triumph over Perth Glory to begin the campaign.
The Jets were missing injured hired gun Beka Mikeltadze but didn't miss a beat.
The other Beka, fellow Georgian Beka Darstmelia, delivered a contender for goal of the year with a tracer bullet from 20 metres.
All the damage was inflicted in a pulsating opening 45 minutes.
The Jets' previous best haul from the first two games was four points. The last time they achieved that was in 2017-18 and they went on to host the grand final.
"It is important to start the season well," Papas said. "It gives them a bit of belief in the work we have been doing. I'm pleased that we have picked up results where performances have largely been very good with large areas to still improve. It is two games. Football changes pretty quickly. Enjoy today and look at what we can learn from it."
Asked if rivals would be looking over their shoulder, Papas said: "I am only able to influence what happens internally. On the external, I don't get too involved in it. Everyone is going to have an opinion. If next week is a different result, the opinion would change very quickly.
"If you get too caught up in that, you lose focus of what is important. We need to focus on what we need to get better at because we have just started."
Pick that one out! Beka Dartsmelia (B2) has arrived 🫶#BondedByGold pic.twitter.com/XWSUJAalBm
— NEWCASTLE JETS FC ✈️ (@NewcastleJetsFC) October 22, 2022
The Jets are away to leaders Western Sydney on Friday, then meet Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park before completing the pre-World Cup block of games at home to Melbourne City.
"We have big games coming up, but they are the kind of games we want to play in," Papas said. "We want to go to Western Sydney and really put on a good show."
James McGarry put the Jets ahead after four minutes. Dartsmelia struck from long range in the 16th minute. Trent Buhagiar further strengthened their grip with a goal on the counter just before the break after Bozhidar Kraev had pulled a goal back for Wellington in the 39th.
Phoenix midfielder Jet Steve Ugarkovic summed it up best: "We were steamrolled in the opening 20 minutes."
Papas agreed: "I thought we were very, very good in the first period of the game," he said. "With Beka out of the team, structurally we set up differently and we got a lot of good outcomes from that."
Dartsmelia's goal was from out of this world.
Given space by a limp Phoenix defence, the attacking midfielder played a one-two with Reno Piscopo before unleashing a stunning left-foot thunderbolt which arrowed into the top left corner.
"He does that every day at training," Papas said. "In and around the box, he is one of the best finishers I have worked with. We need to get him close to the box and in those situations. His accuracy from those areas is incredible."
Wellington lifted their intensity in defence after the break and caused more than their share of problems with the ball, but lacked an end product.
"There is room for a lot of growth. I didn't think we moved the ball well enough and we weren't playing through them as quickly as were in the first half," Papas said.
"Whether that is a false sense of security because for the scoreline. For us to grow as a team, we need to manage the second half a lot better than we did.
"The mindset needs to be to make it 4-1, then 5-1. Of course not concede as well, but finish that game a bit stronger than we did."
Papas was confident that Mikeltadze would be available for the trip to Comm Bank Stadium on Friday.
"It was very hard to tell him we were leaving him out today and not taking a risk at this stage of the season," Papas said. "He felt something in the 60th minute last week. it speaks volumes of what he did in the 93rd minute.
"We took the option not to risk it. He has trained. He will be right for next week that's for sure."
