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Newcastle coach Branko Culina has called on his team to stop conceding soft goals and warned them not to use their short turnaround as an excuse ahead of Saturday’s must-win A-League clash with Central Coast Mariners.
The Jets lost 2-1 to North Queensland on Tuesday, in a game rescheduled from Saturday after heavy rain in Townsville forced it to be postponed, giving Culina just four days to prepare for the Mariners.
Newcastle are holding onto sixth place on the ladder, but need to beat the Central Coast in Gosford to secure their place among the six finals teams after missing a great opportunity to move into fourth.
“If we start looking for excuses all the time that’s all we’ll ever end up doing,” Culina said.
“We’ll be looking for excuses to justify this that and the other, and we’re better than that. We have to learn from the mistakes we make.
“That (the rescheduling) was always going to be a problem for us. That’s why the three points (missed on Tuesday night) were vital.
“The Central Coast game, especially with the rescheduling (and) after the loss, is maybe not such a bad thing.”
Culina said his side must improve at the back if they to book a first finals spot since 2008.
“I think you have to be hard to beat and at the moment we’re not,” he said.
“We have to learn to be hard to beat and not concede stupid soft goals as we do week in week out.
“Until you learn to do that you’re always going to be a team that is going to be up and down and if you want to be a top team you cannot concede such soft goals.”
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