Adelaide United FC has the chance to creep within a point of the top six when it meets the Newcastle Jets at Carrington Park in Bathurst.
Adelaide United FC has the chance to creep within a point of the top six when it meets the Newcastle Jets tomorrow night in a midweek encounter at Carrington Park as Hyundai A-League football comes to the regional New South Wales town of Bathurst for the first time.
Bathurst, which is more renowned for its annual V8 Supercar race, will host the Reds and the Jets in a game that will be as much about securing a crucial three points as showcasing professional football in an area where the sport has a considerable following.
Having played in Gosford on Saturday night, the Reds arrived in Bathurst late on Sunday to prepare for the match. Despite the extended time away from home and playing in a regional centre, Reds Coach John Kosmina is comfortable with his team-s build up and reaffirmed that the players know they have a job to do when the time comes.
“It-s a whole different scenario. Our blokes probably haven-t been in this kind of thing before, going to play in country regional areas, and the fact is we (Adelaide United and the Jets) are all away from home, we-re in camp and it has been four days since we left Adelaide, so it-s how these guys cope with it, but this is good practise for when we go away for the AFC Champions League,” Kosmina said.
“You can-t keep them (the players) revved up for 24 hours a day. There are a lot of little things to keep them occupied, they-re not just sitting around the hotel falling asleep.”
Kosmina has been forced into making one change to the team that narrowly lost to the Central Coast Mariners on Saturday, midfielder Zenon Caravella ruled out with a groin injury. Exciting youngster Teeboy Kamara has been called into the squad as his replacement.
The Reds had a run on Carrington Park this morning, Kosmina pleased with the way the Reds trained, while he was also pleasantly surprised by the state of the surface that will hold the game tomorrow night.
“Overall I think we have trained quite well and we trained on the main field this morning and I was quite happy with it,” Kosmina said.
A couple of momentary lapses cost the Reds against the Mariners on Saturday, and while they have only three full days to try and iron out problems and work on key areas, Kosmina believes the chance to play another game within a short turnaround is the ideal way to improve.
“The stuff that we need to fix, it comes with time and with practise on the training paddock but also in a game situation as well because there are no substitutes for playing games to fix your mistakes up,” Kosmina said.
Goals are one thing that have not been hard to come by for United. The Reds have scored in all of their past six games since Kosmina took charge, with Sergio van Dijk and Bruce Djite starting to prove their appetite for finding the back of the net.
The duo will be hoping they can keep their ominous form going tomorrow night, both for the Reds and the people of Bathurst. Kick-Off is at 7.30pm ACDT.
Hyundai A-League 2011/12 Season – Midweek Regional Fixture
Adelaide United FC v Newcastle Jets
Wednesday 25 January 2012, Carrington Park, Bathurst
Kick-Off: 8.00pm AEDT (7:30pm ACDT)
Referee: Alan Milliner
TV: Live and exclusive on FOX Sports 1
Radio: ABC Radio (Grandstand Digital and online)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/adelutd_fc (hash tag #HALaujets)
Adelaide United squad: 1.Eugene Galekovic (gk) (c), 2.Osama Malik, 3.Nigel Boogaard, 5.Daniel Mullen, 9.Sergio van Dijk, 10.Dario Vidosic, 11.Bruce Djite, 12.Antony Golec, 14.Cameron Watson, 15.Jacob Melling, 17.Iain Ramsay, 18.Fabian Barbiero, 20.Mark Birighitti (gk), 21.Francisco Usucar, 24.Teeboy Kamara
In: Teeboy Kamara (promoted from National Youth League)
Out: Zenon Caravella (groin)
Unavailable: Spase Dilevski (groin), Milan Susak (hamstring), Cassio (foot), Jon McKain (knee), Evgeniy Levchenko (groin)
Newcastle Jets squad: 1.Ben Kennedy (gk), 2.Taylor Regan, 4.Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 5.Tiago Calvano, 6.Ben Kantarovski, 8.Jeremy Brockie, 9.Michael Bridges, 10.Ruben Zadkovich, 11.Tarek Elrich, 12.Jobe Wheelhouse, 13.Byun, 14.Labinot Haliti, 17.James Virgili, 18.Marko Jesic, 19.Matthew Nash (gk), 21.Francis Jeffers, 23.Ryan Griffiths, 25.Jacob Pepper
*three to be omitted*
In: Tiago Calvano, James Virgili, Marko Jesic, Francis Jeffers
Out: Ali Abbas
Unavailable: Nil
Adelaide United vs. Newcastle Jets – Hyundai A-League HEAD TO HEAD Record
Played 20 – 9 wins, 5 draws, 6 losses
25-Nov-2011… D 0-0… 2011/12 Wk 8 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
13-Nov-2010… L 1-3… 2010/11 Wk 14 (EnergyAustralia Stadium)
11-Sep-2010… W 2-1… 2010/11 Wk 6 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
6-Aug-2010… D 0-0… 2010/11 Wk 1 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
12-Feb-2010… W 2-1… 2009/10 Rd 27 (EnergyAustralia Stadium)
4-Dec-2009… L 0-2… 2009/10 Rd 17 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
5-Oct-2009… D 1-1… 2009/10 Rd 9 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
9-Jan-2009… W 2-0… 2008/09 Rd 19 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
30-Nov-2008… D 1-1… 2008/09 Rd 13 (EnergyAustralia Stadium)
27-Sep-2008… W 2-0… 2008/09 Rd6 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
4-Jan-2008… L 1-2… 2007/08 Rd19 (EnergyAustralia Stadium)
18-Nov-2007… D 1-1… 2007/08 Rd13 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
15-Sep-2007… L 0-1… 2007/08 Rd4 (EnergyAustralia Stadium)
11-Feb-2007… W 1-1 (won 4-3 on penalties)… 2006/07 Preliminary Final (Hindmarsh Stadium)
15-Dec-2006… W 3-2… 2006/07 Rd17 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
27-Oct-2006… L 1-2… 2006/07 Rd10 (EnergyAustralia Stadium)
8-Sep-2006… W 5-1… 2006/07 Rd3 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
2-Dec-2005… W 2-1… 2005/06 Rd 15 (EnergyAustralia Stadium)
14-Oct-2005… L 2-4… 2005/06 Rd 8 (Hindmarsh Stadium)
26-Aug-2005… W 1-0… 2005/06 Rd 1 (EnergyAustralia Stadium)
At Hindmarsh Stadium
Played 12; Adelaide United 6, Newcastle Jets 2, Draws 4
At EnergyAustralia Stadium
Played 8; Adelaide United 3, Newcastle Jets 4, Draws 1
Last time they met
25-Nov-2011 Week 8, Hyundai A-League 2011/12 Season at Hindmarsh Stadium
Adelaide United FC 0
Newcastle Jets 0
Adelaide United last three results
Wk 16. 21-1-12… L 2-3… vs. Central Coast Mariners (Bluetongue Stadium)
Wk 15. 13-1-12… D 1-1… vs. Melbourne Victory (AAMI Park)
Wk 14. 7-1-12… D 1-1… vs. Brisbane Roar (Hindmarsh Stadium)
