History still favours Jets, but they will take nothing for granted against Gold Coast United at Wolter Park tonight, kick-off 6.15pm.
Jets have not lost an NPL Queensland fixture against Gold Coast United since the sides first met in 2018. Four victories have been followed by two draws.
In three home NPL Qld fixtures Jets have also scored 12 goals against today's visitors, including five in the 10-goal thriller last season.
However, Gold Coast won the latest meeting in the pre-season Inter-City Cup last month and pushed Olympic hard before going down 1-0 in the NPL last weekend.
“It will be a tough game, for sure,” said Jets’ coach Royce Brownlie, “Grae (Piddick, the GCU coach) always draws very experienced players to him.”
That now includes defender Alex Tabillon, who moved south in the summer after two years with Moreton Bay United.
“It’s still early in the season and first games are difficult,” said Royce, “no-one is quite where they want to be. We’re still probably three weeks away.
“What we’re looking for is match fitness. We’ll get that with competitive games; playing at a high level and playing with more pressure.
“It’s about being sharper. It was good to win last weekend (in the 2-1 win over Redlands), but we had chances which were not taken.”
Today’s game is the second of four successive NPL home matches for Jets and seven scheduled for Wolter Park in the first 10 fixtures this season.
This was originally our first away game, but it was switched late this week due to issues with the Gold Coast pitch. Our first away match is now at Peninsula Power on April 10.
Jets Under 18s and Under 23s, which both had winning starts last weekend, also face Gold Coast united at Wolter Park, kicking-off at 2pm and 4pm respectively.
Jets v Gold Coast United in NPL
2018
Jets 4 Gold Coast United 1
Gold Coast United 0 Jets 4
2019
Gold Coast United 1 Jets 2
Jets 3 Gold Coast united 2
2020
Gold Coast United 1 Jets 1
Jets 5 Gold Coast United 5