A-League Men, 2023: Frequent flyers Newcastle keen to bring home points

The Jets travel to country Victoria to take on Western United at Mars Stadium in Ballarat on Saturday.

Their two previous journeys to Perth and Melbourne Victory, while producing encouraging performances, failed to yield a win.

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos scored in injury-time to snatch the visitors a 2-all draw in the west.

Newcastle could easily have picked up a point in a 5-3 defeat to Victory, after which A-League referees boss Nathan Magill admitted the VAR incorrectly ruled out a Jets goal for offside.

They returned home last round and led Western Sydney 2-0 at half-time only to share the points from a 2-all draw.

Only Brisbane have had a comparable run on the road. The Roar travelled to Macarthur, hosted Sydney before travelling to meet Wellington. They are away to Central Coast on Sunday.

"The first month has included three road trips which is always challenging," Stanton said. "That is a heavy load for the players. This week we have under-loaded them a little bit. Hopefully that is reflected in the performance on the weekend.

"I knew the first month would be difficult. We have played probably two top-four teams and pushed them.

"There are areas we need to be better at, but there are a lot areas we are doing really well. We are scoring goals, creating chances and, I think, we are exciting the fans,

"I'd like to have a few more points. We have been in positions in a few games to have more points.

"The season is not going to be defined in the first four rounds. Little steps can lead to good things in the future. From my experience in the A-League, it can change very quickly.

"Three points this week would make a big difference before the FIFA break.

"It would help with self belief and confidence."

Stanton has kept faith in the squad that took on Wanderers. Former Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson hasn't been included for a second straight week.

It was hoped that creative spark Reno Piscopo may return from a long-term calf issue, but he, Archie Goodwin (back) and Jacob Dowse (knee) remain sidelined.

"I think the players performed pretty well last week and it would be unfair to make changes to the starting XI," Stanton said.

After opening the season with a 2-1 upset of Melbourne City, Western United have dropped two on the bounce to Wanderers (5-0) and Macarthur (1-0.

"They have lost the last two matches so they will be very hungry," Stanton said. "Both of those were away from home which proves winning away is difficult.

"I think it will get down to small moments. How we handle the travel, how we prepare, how we are ready to go.

"We need to follow up our performances in attack from the first three games and tighten up a little bit in defence. Defence is collective, that's everyone putting in.

"It will get down to those little moments. We defined those one per centers on the training field. The detail counts. If we can come out on top, that might be the difference."

Stanton has reviewed the second-half goals the Jets conceded against Wanderers and is confident the errors can be fixed.

"The average age of the backline against wanderers was 23, which is quite young," he said. "When we reflected on the game, they did a very good job defensively. We managed our zones well, we got pressure in the right areas on the ball.

"One goal was from a corner. We have done a lot of work on set pieces and did really well in pre-season. The second, was more down to being over enthusiastic. We had too many players putting pressure on the ball and not staying in their roles. It was a communication issue. Being a young group, that is an area we need to improve. Again that comes with maturity and experience. These are things we have to work through."

Stamatelopoulos and strike partner Trent Buhagiar used their pace to get in behind and score against a high-pressing Wanderers defence.

Western United are unlikely to be as aggressive.

"We encountered a little bit of that in Perth," Stanton said. "They sat off after they went ahead and we had to break them down. I was really happy with how that went.

"I expect teams over time will use different tactics against us. If Western sit back, our challenge will be to break them down. If they want to press high and chase us, our challenge will be to play through their aggression and create chances.

"You have to be ready for anything and good at everything."

Saturday's game is the first of three straight Western United home games in Ballarat.

"That makes a difference. We're not going there, and then not going back there for another two, three months, we're going there three in a row," coach John Aloisi said.

"So we can make it like it's our home and the feel of the place and the players get used to the drive down there, the changerooms, the surroundings.

"All that stuff that you take it for granted, when you're always playing at one venue, but when you're playing like us in a few different venues, it can become a little bit like it doesn't feel like home.

"So we're going to treat it like it's our home ground and we're looking forward to these three games."

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Western haven't scored in their past two games but skipper Josh Risdon was certain things would soon click.

"It's little things here and there. Maybe in the front third, I think our final pass is sort of let us letting us down," Risdon said.

"We're getting into really good areas and we're creating a lot of half chances. If we're more clinical we can punish teams.

"It's obviously only at the start of the season.

"We've got three home games now, we've got a good record in Ballarat so the squad's still full of confidence, we believe we can play play finals this year, do even better, maybe.

"So, we're really looking forward to the next few games to put like a really good performance together."