THE Newcastle Jets are off to a flyer under their new ownership after a 4-1 victory against Western United in Wednedsay night's Australia Cup clash in Darwin.
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In their first competitive outing since it was announced last month that Maverick Sports Partners had acquired Newcastle's A-League franchise license, the Jets advanced into the main draw of the knockout tournament with a promising display.
They next play NSW NPL side Rockdale in the round of 32 in Sydney on Wednesday night.
"We've got a bit of work to do, but I thought we were well organised most of the time, and I also I thought we managed ourselves well as a group," Jets coach Rob Stanton told the Herald.
"Some of the things I asked them to do, they maintained it for a lot longer than I thought they could, so that was pleasing.
"We've put them through quite a hard pre-season. They've been under fatigue a lot. So to come out and play like they did, I'm pretty happy with it."
Concerns about Newcastle's strikepower - after the departure of forwards Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, Trent Buhahiar, Reno Piscopo and Archie Goodwin - were at least partially allayed by the new-look squad's youthful energy.
The Jets took the lead after a 17th-minute Western United own goal and rammed home the advantage.
Thomas Aquilina scored a brace for Newcastle, in the 29th and 66th minutes, and replacement defender Nathan Grimaldi delivered his first goal for the club in the 42nd minute.
"The players showed they're hungry to score goals," Stanton said.
"That's a good sign that they're willing to take the initiative ... at this point in time, we need everyone to contribute.
"I don't want us to be relying on one individual to get us all the goals. I'd rather have threats all over the park if I could."
Newcastle have traditionally fizzled out early in the cup, and "one game at a time" is Stanton's mentality.
"The moment you focus on the cup, then you're already in competition mode, and you might shorten some of the areas we need to work on," he said. "So we'll just go game by game and see where it takes us. My main focus is developing this squad and getting some players in."
Meanwhile, Jets midfielder Lachy Bayliss started as New Zealand kicked off their Paris Olympic campaign with a 2-1 win over Guinea on Wednesday night.
