The Newcastle Jets will look to defeat Wellington again, this time at home, as they look to add to their first round away success and do the double over the Nix this season.
A home win will not be so straightforward for the Jets, however, as Newcastle have not scored a goal for six games straight, an unwanted record they share with the now defunct New Zealand Knights. All up, that is 559 minutes of football without a goal and 10 matches without a win for the Hunter club, with its last one coming in round eight’s 1-1 draw with Brisbane Roar. Since then, Newcastle’s record has been bleak (L, L, D, L, L, L) with the most disastrous result being their 4-0 home defeat at the hands of the previously vanquished Melbourne City in round 10.
The Phoenix have their own winless run to deal with. Their round 14 goalless home draw against Brisbane Roar made it five winless matches since their round nine home triumph over Melbourne Victory in Auckland. The Kiwi side has drawn two matches 0-0 and has also had two 1-1 draws already this season, reaffirming their lack of firepower.
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However, the New Zealand side will be buoyed by the news that the licence saga that has dogged it throughout the season so far looks set to be resolved soon. Perhaps with this good off-field news, the Nix can finally put together a performance on the pitch that will net them their first away win since round three.
In the now infamous words of Louis van Gaal following a 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth this Premier League season: “it was a match where who scores the winning goal shall win”. Unfortunately for the Jets and Wellington, goals of any kind (let alone the winner) have been hard to come by this season, especially in the recent weeks’ action.
Both sides will need to rediscover their scoring touch if they are to claim victory in this contest between two sides who are yet to hit any sort of consistent form this season.
As we approach the pointy end of the 2015-16 term, the pressure is equally on for young Newcastle coach Scott Miller and the league’s most experienced coach in the Phoenix’s Ernie Merrick. Both coaches will need to figure out how to get their attacking players scoring again, as the Nix adjust to life without Roy Krishna. The Jets hope someone like Milos Trifunovic or Enver Alivodic can step up and find the back of the net when David Carney is marked out of the game, like he was against Sydney last weekend.
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When these sides met in round one, Miller out-manoeuvred Merrick to record a meritorious victory in his first game in charge. It will be fascinating to see how this meeting plays out, with both teams struggling for consistency, and whether Miller can repeat the trick or if the canny Scot Merrick can get the better of his younger counterpart this time around.
That match was a tense and pulsating encounter, a match that had an own goal, a red card and two terrific strikes by Carney and Trifunovic. You can bet that Newcastle and their fans would be happy to get even one goal this Sunday; they would be delirious if they scored two, maybe to pick up three valuable points.
The way these two are playing, it would seem another low-scoring draw is the only possible result, but you just never know in football, or in the A League, what will happen next. And we could be in for a game to remember, as long as the players on each team finally remember how to get the ball into the back of the net.
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