The Wanderers will be looking to get back on track and maintain their spot in the Hyundai A-League top six when they travel to the Hunter region to play the Newcastle Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.
Head coach Markus Babbel is expected to pick a starting XI from his strongest squad of the season with every player available now that defender Matthew Jurman is ready to return after several weeks on the sideline with an injury.
The Red & Black will be coming off a controversial and unfortunate 3-2 loss to Melbourne City last week in which they produced one of their best performances of the season.
Having taking an early lead through Kwame Yeboah and being in control for the first 50 minutes, the home side was stunned when City were awarded a penalty, subsequently converted, early in the second half.
It changed the complex of the game as City then took the lead before the Wanderers showed typical resilience to equalise through Yeboah with 10 minutes to go, only to fall cruelly to an injury-time goal.
However, the Wanderers have put the disappointment of that loss behind them and put in a strong week at training as they look to get back to their winning ways.
While they have not beaten the Jets in their past six encounters (four losses and two draws), their record in Newcastle suggests they are more than capable of turning it around in this round eight clash.
The Red & Black have won five, drawn three and lost just twice in Newcastle since the two sides first met in 2012.
In form striker, Yeboah, will go into the game full of confidence and keen to carry on with his good form from last week after his brace of goals – his first of the season – against City.
With Alex Meier on the bench as a result of some soreness, Yeboah was used as a target man and relished the role while taking advantage of some slick work from wide men Bruce Kamau and Daniel Georgievski.
Kamau, who returned from a layoff because of injury, was another who impressed. Playing in a more attacking role, he constantly proved a thorn in the side of the City defence with his pace and crossing.
After a sluggish start to the season, Newcastle have started to put things together with a draw and a win in their past two games.
It’s been frustrating for the Jets given they are the only club in the league that has already had two byes.
They had the bye in the first round then again last week after beating Western United 1-0 away.
