By Liam FitzGibbon
October 25th 2009 @ 1:11am
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Captain Thompson predicts Jets surge
Newcastle captain Matt Thompson believes the Jets have turned the corner in their A-League season with their morale-boosting win over NSW rivals Central Coast.
The Jets snapped a six-game winless streak at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Friday night with only their third win of the season and first since beating Gold Coast 1-0 in August.
It was a huge relief for Branko Culina’s men who played some encouraging football in recent weeks without getting results.
Now Thompson says the eighth-placed Jets are ready to work their way back up the competition ladder having proved to themselves they have what it takes to be contenders.
Asked if the win was a turning point for his side, Thompson said: “I hope so.
“At the end of the day we showed we can play for ninety minutes.
“So now, there’s no reason why we can’t do that week in and week out.
“We’ll enjoy this win and start concentrating on Brisbane next week.
“It was a tough result and we showed what we can do. We had to be up for it and we were.”
The F3 derby was played with passion by both sides in a contest that became heated at times, notably with an all-in scuffle in the first half that lasted for almost two minutes.
Rather than being disappointed that his players got involved in the melee, Jets coach Branko Culina was actually pleased, saying it showed just how much the game meant to them.
“We were having a bit of a laugh when it happened because, as a coach and coaching staff, we we’re very fortunate everyone kept their heads up ,”Culina said.
“We thought, ‘this is great, the players themselves have decided they want to do something, not just about this game, but where we are’ and that’s so much easier for the coach and the coaching staff and the club when the players want to do it rather than you always telling them to do it.”
Mariners captain Alex Wilkinson said the scuffle also sparked his side in action after going 2-0 down, but was disappointed his side hadn’t been up for the match from the start after last week’s 3-0 win over Brisbane.
“It shouldn’t have to take something like that for us to get out of the blocks so well after last week,” Wilkinson said.
“It’s unfortunate we can’t back it up and get those elusive two wins in a row, it’s pretty frustrating actually.”
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