A-League: Newcastle Jets and Melbourne City ready for fast turnaround

Newcastle and Melbourne City will each be playing their second A-League game in four days when they meet at McDonald Jones Stadium.

Melbourne City assistant coach Patrick Kisnorbo. Picture: Getty Images

Newcastle Jets and Melbourne City will play their second A-League match in four days when they face off at McDonald Jones Stadium on Monday night.

The Jets travelled back from Brisbane after Friday night’s 1-0 loss to the Roar while City stayed in the area after Jamie Maclaren’s hat-trick helped them to a 4-2 win over Central Coast in Gosford.

City assistant coach Patrick Kisnorbo, standing in for his boss Erick Mombaerts, who elected not to travel to NSW, emphasised the challenges of the tight turnaround forced by efforts to shorten the season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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“Geographically it helps (staying in the area). Obviously it’s a bit difficult in terms of the small squad that you have, to play (in) the next three days,” Kisnorbo said.

“But look we’ll do our best that we can, try to recover the players as best that we can.” Kisnorbo had emphasised the importance of picking up all three points against the Jets, who he described as a “side that brings some good form”.

Second-placed City recorded a clean bill of health from their game, as did the Jets, but Newcastle coach Carl Robinson flagged the possibility of rotating some of the players in his squad. Robinson is keen to further assess his squad before season’s end, while also insisting he hasn’t written off making the finals, despite the Jets sitting six points outside the top six.

“I thought we looked a little bit leggy (against Brisbane) – so certain players, I will rotate, I will bring in a number of players,” he said.

“I need to see the players between now and the end of the year without giving up hope of trying to sneak in the back door because there will be teams that drop points, there will be teams that obviously beat each other.

“So we’ll keep going, we’ll keep playing but we need to improve our quality.”

Meanwhile, Perth coach Tony Popovic has lavished praise on milestone man Liam Reddy, believing the veteran A-League goalkeeper is still at the peak of his powers.

Reddy will become just the fourth player to notch 300 A-League games when Glory host Western United at an empty HBF Park on Monday night.

The 38-year-old is the ultimate local journeyman, having played for seven A-League clubs.

Most of those stints were for only one or two seasons, and some didn’t end well.

But he has found himself at home in Perth, where he has played since 2016.

“I’ve had a lot of experience with Liam over the years and I believe he’s playing as good as he ever has,” Popovic said.

“Physically and mentally he’s in fantastic shape … I’m very happy to have him as part of his squad.”

Reddy’s career hung in the balance after he was sacked by Sydney FC in 2012 for consuming alcohol before and during a flight to New Zealand before an elimination final against Wellington.

But Reddy was able to bounce back from that setback and Western United coach Mark Rudan saw it first hand.

“When he was going through a tough time and he found himself out of the A-League we brought him back to Sydney United and we spent a year together,” Rudan said.

“We worked together and he had a phenomenal year at Sydney United – we won the Australian NPL championship and the minor premiership that year and it was his leadership and his commitment and desire that got us (there).

“Through that fantastic season that he had he was able to reward himself – Graham Arnold’s on the phone asking questions and he took him to Central Coast – and he hasn’t looked back since.”

Glory have slipped to fifth on the table after posting just one win from their past seven games.

Western United are four points further adrift in sixth but enter the match in hot form.

They belted Central Coast 6-2 on March 1 and followed that up with a 5-1 demolition of Adelaide in their most recent match.

AAP