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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National

Why Jets coach Ash Wilson is paying no attention to their winless record against Melbourne City

Jets defender Teigen Allen comes back into calculations this weekend after missing the past two matches with a hamstring complaint. Picture by Marina Neil

History suggests Newcastle are clear underdogs in their A-League Women round-four battle with Melbourne City on Saturday.

But their statistic of never beating the competition's four-time championship winners in 11 encounters since 2015 is irrelevant to Ash Wilson.

They have drawn once but Newcastle have not taken a point in Melbourne.

"I'm not really buying into it ... I don't really care about it too much," Wilson said.

"It's a totally new team, both of us. We're pretty strong in the belief we have in what we can do.

"This competition is probably more even than I've seen it over a number of years and anybody is there to be beaten, and anybody is there to put on a performance and win.

"We're obviously going to take it down to them and I'm not really buying into past results."

What the Jets coach does acknowledge, however, is a win against City at Casey Fields on Saturday will provide valuable points and a huge shot of confidence as they eye finals this campaign.

Newcastle are in fifth place with four points after opening their season with a 2-1 loss to Brisbane, 4-2 win over Western Sydney and 2-2 draw against Perth.

City have beaten Wellington 4-1 and Roar 3-0 to be second on six points.

"It is really early in the season but, obviously, a win against them puts us in a good position," Wilson said.

"We're sitting fifth. If we beat them, we jump them on the ladder. But we're taking it one game at a time.

"We have the quality to be able to make finals football but we have to put in consistent performances.

"Obviously a win against City would be a strong statement, mainly to us to be honest, mainly to keep building that belief that we're gaining and then we move on from there."

Both City and Newcastle have scored an equal league-high seven goals. But the Jets have leaked six goals - two in each outing - compared to City's one.

Last weekend, the Jets trailed twice before ensuring a draw with Glory.

"The players were disappointed with that result, which is good," Wilson said.

"The expectation for what they can achieve is high, so they were disappointed not to do more with some of the quality territory that they had and number of shots compared to Perth.

"But, at the same time, they were really proud of their efforts and the resilience that they showed to make sure they still came away with a point and came back twice."

While the Jets have shared their seven goals so far amongst five different scorers, City have plenty of firepower themselves.

Newcastle's 2020-21 player of the year Rhianna Pollicina, Australian rising talent Bryleeh Henry and Chilean Maria Rojas have all scored twice for City.

"They're a quality team and we know they're going to try to play a good brand of football where they want to keep possession," Wilson said.

"They can hurt teams on the transition with the quality that they have in how quickly they can go forward and how well they can retain the ball when they win it back.

"We want to make sure we're putting them under as much pressure as possible and just getting them out of their rhythm that they can get into quite easily if they're given time and space."

Experienced defender Teigen Allen returns to the Jets squad after being sidelined for the past two matches with a hamstring complaint.

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