Jets striker Aleksandr Kokko will get a chance to make good on his pre-season challenge to Melbourne City star Tim Cahill on Thursday night at AAMI Park.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Coach Mark Jones is poised to return Kokko to his starting side as the Jets try to bounce back from a poor performance against Wellington last weekend.
Jones was unhappy with his team’s lack of intensity and untidiness with the ball in Saturday’s 2-0 loss in New Zealand and signalled changes for the City game.
He said Kokko would come into consideration for a starting role, giving the 29-year-old Finnish target man an opportunity to match up against Socceroos legend Cahill.
“Cahill, I know. Big player. The best player in Australian history? We’ll see who’s better,” Kokko told the media soon after arriving in Newcastle in August.
The 36-year-old Cahill scored a spectacular 35-metre goal on his City debut against Melbourne Victory last month but has missed two out of five games to start his A-League career.
Kokko, meanwhile, came off injured after 37 minutes of his debut against Adelaide and has played only 78 minutes in total across three appearances without finding the back of the net.
But Jones was hopeful Kokko would step up and lead the line for the Jets, who have not scored in two weeks after opening the season with seven goals across two draws and a win.
“Scott [Miller] bought him on the premise that he was a good striker and a good target man,” Jones said.
“We’ve got to see him on the field. He got his injuries, and that was unfortunate. Now he’s working hard to get back in a position where hopefully he can start a game of football for us.”
Goals and assists have been all too infrequent from Jets imports in the past, but Jones hoped the Scott Miller signing could be the man to break that cycle.
“Time will tell if he does that. That’s what his potential is. He’s shown glimpses of that on the weekend.”
Winger Andrew Nabbout is also in line to return to the starting side from a groin injury. Nabbout has been among the Jets’ best this season and showed his value with a powerful 30-minute cameo which turned the momentum against Wellington.
In his absence, left winger Andrew Hoole has played as a central striker with Danish international Morten Nordstrand, pushing midfielder Wayne Brown into a wider role on the left.
“Nabbout’s able to get through, hopefully, 90 minutes, and hopefully Kokko’s got at least 60 minutes in him,” Jones said. “That enables us to play people in their more favoured positions.
“It puts the pressure back on people. People have to do a bit more than they gave on the weekend.
“I just don’t think we were aggressive enough with our pressing, and we didn’t take advantage when we were in decent areas.
“We didn’t penetrate in the last third and create the opportunities we should have.”
