Reno Piscopo doubtful for Jets, Trent Buhagiar shapes as replacement

The 25-year-old has only just returned from a calf injury which kept him sidelined for the first five rounds. He overcame an ankle injury to travel to Adelaide but was forced from the field with a groin complaint 16 minutes into Newcastle's 3-1 loss to the Reds last outing.

Trent Buhagiar shapes as a likely replacement for Piscopo in the starting line-up as the Jets attempt to record their first win at home this A-League season before hitting the road for three successive away games.

"He'll miss this game, I think, but the good thing is he'll recover a lot quicker because of all the work he did," Jets coach Rob Stanton said on Friday.

"It's only a minor strain, which is good. He's feeling a lot better. He should be running today, which is a really good sign. I'm hoping it's only a really short turnaround - one or two weeks.

"Obviously, you can see when he played, he just gave us a new dimension in the terms of options and creativity at the right moments."

Buhagiar has featured in all nine games for Newcastle this campaign, starting five of the first six rounds, and took the field when Piscopo was forced off in Adelaide.

The 25-year-old produced a 97th-minute equaliser when the Jets came from behind to draw 2-2 with Perth in their last outing at home.

"We've got a few strikers so we'll probably revert back to maybe something similar to what we've done before, Reno just gave us a different outlet," Stanton said.

"We have some other options there as well ... Trent, you've got Archie [Goodwin] when he comes on, young [Justin] Vidic has done well when he's come on as well."

Home-grown teenage talent Goodwin has featured off the bench in the Jets' past five outings and will continue to be managed after a string of injury setbacks in his young career.

"I think at some stage he'll get a start," Stanton said of 19-year-old.

"We've considered it but we know that if we start him we'll have to take him off and if he's playing well, that's hard to do.

"So I'd rather build it from after the game starts and then I can extend the time there and make sure we don't go overboard with him. We want to protect him ... but at some stage, the way he is heading, he'll be able to be a 90-minute player."

The ninth-placed Jets, who are four points adrift of the top six on nine points, beat last-placed United (six points) in Ballarat in round four.

Stanton knows it will take "a 90-minute performance" to repeat the result.

"I've been really happy with the way we've played, just as a team we make mistakes," Stanton said.

"If we can limit those and put away our opportunities that we create ... we're a shot to win the game."

The round-10 game kicks off at 5.30pm on Saturday.