BARELY two weeks ago they had conceded more goals than any other team in the A-League this season.
Now the Newcastle Jets are aiming to break a club record by racking up a fourth consecutive clean sheet in Sunday's clash with Brisbane at Moreton Daily Stadium.
After wins against Wellington Phoenix (4-0) and Sydney FC (2-0) and a scoreless draw in Perth on Wednesday, the Jets have strung together three games without allowing their opposition to score.
According to A-League statisticians Andrew Howe and Justin Tickner, this is the seventh time the Jets have produced a hat-trick of clean sheets, but never have they kept their goal intact in four successive games.
The turnaround has helped them climb to within three points of the A-League's top six, and with eight rounds remaining in the regular season, they are in with a genuine chance of making the finals.
"We pride ourselves on clean sheets, and also being able to score at the other end," Jets skipper Matt Jurman said.
"For us, we don't just focus on one end and not the other.
"It hasn't always gone to plan for us in some games, but we work hard and the last three games, it's been good to finally get what we've worked hard for - clean sheets and taking seven points from [a possible] nine."
The Jets have now gone 272 minutes since conceding. The club record is 378 minutes, set in 2019-20.
Jets keeper Jack Duncan said a team meeting after back-to-back losses to Wellington (3-2) and Adelaide (2-1) last month had been a catalyst for change. Since then he said everyone had been producing "that little bit extra" in terms of work ethic.
"Hopefully we can continue that ... and really push on for the finals," he said.
Meanwhile, Newcastle have succeeded in having Daniel Penha's ban downgraded for three games to one after the Brazilian was sent off in the dying minutes of the draw against Perth.
