THE Newcastle Jets put the disappointment of their early Australia Cup exit behind them and ticked a number of boxes in 2-1 win over Sydney Olympic.
New arrivals Jaushua Sotirio and Rory Jordan scored as the Jets came from 1-0 down to take the friendly at Wanderers Football Park on Saturday. The Jets had been scheduled to play NNSW club Weston, but the Bears withdrew due to players being unavailable.
"The most important things was that were able to have a decent hit out," Jets assistant coach Arthur Diles said.
"Credit to Olympic, they were a really good opponent for us. They gave us what we needed. We had an opportunity to put good minutes in players' legs and the fact that we came away unscathed from an injury point of view was great. You tick the box of minutes, you tick the box of no injuries and you tick the box of progression from the week before in terms of the team gelling."
Diles said the performance was a "step forward" in terms of cohesion from the 2-0 loss to Adelaide in the Australia Cup the week before.
"The opponent is slightly less than Adelaide, but not by much," he said. "In terms of progress from the week before it was good."
Former Jet Roy O'Donovan put the NSW NPL minor premiers ahead early. Sotitio equalised before half-time. Both teams made a number of changes after the break before Jordan netted the winner.
"They were good goals from good football," Diles said. "It is early doors and for the new players it is a foreign style of play. Every game we can get against quality oppositions gives us more opportunity to get the players to the level that we need."
Meanwhile, the Jets youth team sealed the Football NSW NPL3 minor premiership with a round to play. The Jets drew 2-all with Western Rage on Saturday, to move five clear of Nepean and Hawkesbury.
The Jets under-20s also secured the minor premiership.
