Newcastle Jets skipper Brandon O'Neill expects ups and downs this A-League season given the relative inexperience of the squad under rookie coach Rob Stanton.
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But the 29-year-old just can't see the Jets repeating the defensive horror show which led to a Bruno Fornaroli-inspired 4-1 half-time deficit last week in a 5-3 loss to Melbourne Victory.
And the defensive midfielder said the second-half turnaround has him excited for what the Jets can do in their first home game on Sunday against Western Sydney Wanderers.
"When you reflect on a game, you remove the emotion and try to keep it as real as possible," O'Neill said.
"The young side we are, and we're relatively new together, I think throughout the season we are going to punch above our weight at times and at times we have to be real and take things as a learning experience.
"I wouldn't even say it was the first half, I'd say the last 20 minutes of the first half, when we were caught out numerous times ... I just can't see us doing that again in games ... touch wood.
"But the learnings we took, all the lads and the coaching staff, I just can't see us ever going through that patch again.
"As quick as it happened, in the second half we were able to rectify it. In the half-time break, the changes were made, and then you saw a much better performance, much more like we've been accustomed to seeing in the pre-season.
"There were values and principles we locked down in pre-season in that second half and that's what gives me excitement heading into the first home game.
"If we come out and play like that, I think more often than not we'll be on the right end of the result."
He said Stanton gave the squad a deserved "rocket" at half-time last week and the squad responded.
"My job, especially with the young boys around me, was to make sure the scoreboard was irrelevant," he said.
"We needed to do what was going to get us back in the game and I knew with a lot of the boys it was about playing free and with the intent to be positive in all actions.
"I grabbed them all and said, 'there's nothing to lose here lads. We go and we go hard', and I was very, very proud of the reaction."
Wanderers poise another challenge for the Jets' defence, given their 5-0 drubbing of Western United last week.
O'Neill admitted the pressure would be on to bounce back at McDonald Jones Stadium but he said it was also exciting to be home.
"We're very good as scoring goals and we are very good at going quick," he said. "We've got power and assets, so once we get going, we're very difficult to stop. We proved that in pre-season.
"Training has been very good this week, so I think the first home game has come at the right time."
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