Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond and Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar have predicted the Newcastle Jets will be a force in this year's Hyundai A-League after a their second-round Pre-Season Cup 2008 clash on Saturday night.
The match finished in a 0-0 draw with the Jets controlling most of the possession but with the Reds having the better of chances on goal. Despite the lacklustre nature of the game, which was mainly due to both sides trying to establish a solid shape before the start of the season proper, both managers saw enough to label the Jets as a strong chance to defend their Hyundai A-League title this season.
"Overall I thought we were, possession-wise, the better of the teams, particularly in the first half, in the second half we dropped off a bit," van Egmond told Sportal after the match.
"I thought both teams had some chances. They had a couple chances playing on the counter and we had a couple of chances where we worked it nicely to have an opportunity in front of goal. Overall I was pretty happy."
"We just need to have a little more silk in that final third and a little bit more nous. We have some young boys up there it makes it a little bit more difficult as they don't have the same experience as some of players who weren't available today, but I was very happy with their work ethic and their performance overall though."
"But from what we saw tonight and along with the likes of Joel (Griffiths), James Holland, Jade North and maybe another three of four players to come in that there is going to be some real competition for spots and that is exactly what we want."
While Vidmar said he was 'pretty pleased' with the way his players performed he gave the Jets a compliment by saying they were a good chance to become the first Hyundai A-League team to defend its title.
"We were pretty good," said Vidmar. "We started really well and we probably should have scores after 17 seconds but then we fell into a bit of a hole and we just weren't pushed up as high as we should have been and they were getting out a fair bit."
"We fixed that up in the second half and I thought we controlled the ball for a fair bit of the second half. I know Eugene made one save in the 52nd minute and I think that was the only shot on goal up until that stage. So I was pretty pleased."
"But I think when Newcastle get some more players back on board and the boys away on international duty I think they have a great chance of going back to back," he said. "I thought they were very good."