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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Sport

Newcastle Jets leaving it late in quest for the A-League Women play-offs

US import Murphy Agnew is tipped to return to Newcastle's starting line-up. Picture by Will Murray, AAP
US import Murphy Agnew is tipped to return to Newcastle's starting line-up. Picture by Will Murray, AAP

MISSION: Possible kicks off today for the Newcastle Jets in their A-League Women's clash with Western Sydney at Wanderers Park.

After losing four of their past five games, the Jets have slipped to second last on the ladder, 11 points adrift of the top four, with nine games to play.

Yet they haven't given up hope of reaching the finals and won't do until such point that they are mathematically out of contention.

"You're probably looking at seven [wins], to be honest," Jets coach Ash Wilson said.

"Most of our games, we need three points. That's the reality of our situation.

"But we're a fighting team and that's what they're going to need to take into the second half [of the season], and I have every confidence that they will."

Wilson said a two-week break between games had allowed her players to re-focus, and she said they had expressed a collective desire to show their true colours in their remaining games.

"The confidence is still there," she said. "The belief is still there.

"The re-set has has been really good, to re-focus and get that attitude back on. At the end of the day, they want to keep pushing.

"There's points on offer for us and anybody can beat anybody in this league ... they desperately want to show that they haven't even been close to hitting their potential.

"They want to show that in the second half of the season."

Having conceded a league-high 27 goals, including a 5-1 hammering from Canberra United in their most recent outing, defence is not surprisingly a priority.

"There's definitely been moments when we haven't been good enough defensively, and we spoke about that after the Canberra game ... we need to make sure that everyone is collectively taking responsibility and being accountable," Wilson said.

Wilson was hopeful the likely return of American imports Murphy Agnew and Sarah Griffith to the starting line-up would "bring a bit of spark".

Kick-off has been delayed from 3pm to 5.30pm to counter expected temperatures of above 30 degrees.

Meanwhile, on Thursday night, Princess Ibini scored a hat-trick as Sydney FC thumped reigning champions Melbourne Victory 6-3.

In other games this weekend, Canberra United host Western United, Brisbane are at home to Wellington and Adelaide are away against Melbourne City.

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