CARL Robinson spent his first week at the helm urging the Newcastle Jets to believe - believe in themselves and believe in the Welshman's game plan.
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Week two is about "tidying up" deficiencies, starting with a series of poor starts.
The Jets came from 1-0 down to earn a spirited 1-all draw against Western Sydney at a rain-soaked Bankwest Stadium on Saturday night.
The point moved the Jets off the bottom of the A-League ladder and many, including Robinson, suggested they deserved all three points.
After a shaky opening 20 minutes, the Jets took control. They had 55% of possession, whipped in 27 crossess, won the corner count 9-3 and fired 20 shots on goal.
Matt Millar tucked away a shot at the near post after a neat one-two with Roy O'Donovan in the 74th minute to cancel out a fifth-minute penalty by Mitch Duke.
But it could have been much more.
"The hardest thing in football is to score goals," Robinson said. "That's why the forwards are paid the big bucks. We created a number of chances and we only scored one goal. We have some work to do on that. Bringing Roy O'Donovan back in, getting [Abdiel] Arroyo up to speed, Kosta [Petratos] came on and made a difference ... we have players who can score."
A more immediate concern was the lacklustre start. Duke's penalty, after a clumsy foul by Bobby Burns on Bruce Kamau, was among a host of chances for the home side in the opening 15 minutes. The Wanderers captain hit the post with another effort and Jets keeper Lewis Italiano kept the visitors in the match with a series of saves.
Duke's spot kick was the 11th time in 17 games this season the Jets have conceded a goal in the first 15 minutes of a half.
"We've got to try and eradicate that pretty quickly," Robinson said. "We have a few tidy ups. If I had a pre-season and a number of weeks or months, it is easy to instill that. I have to pick and choose what I implement in the training week.
"If you try and give them too much it is an overload. I want them to dominate the ball but I also want them to be hard to play against by pressing and counter pressing and winning duels, which is what the game is about. That will be a focus this week."
Overall, Robinson said the positives out-weighed the negatives.
"When we had the ball, I wanted them to play a certain way. When we didn't have the ball I wanted to play a certain way. We did a lot of very good things without the ball, especially in the second half," the coach said.
Though happy with the performance, Robinson said the first-up result hadn't lifted a weight off his shoulders.
"People say you need to get your first point or first win but I don't look at that," he said. "I have had 200 games in management. I am more focused on how I can tap into these players minds and how I can affect them. I focus on the performance and the performance was very good."
"We came in here to try and win. you saw that, especially in the second half, we were proactive with out substitutes. We are disappointed [not to win]. We will go next week and try to win at home."
