Soccer: Jets fears ease as key duo gear up for semifinal

SYDNEY - The Newcastle Jets injury concerns have eased with two key players confident of making Sunday's A-League sudden death minor semifinal with the Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium.

Defender Tarek Elrich and midfielder Jobe Wheelhouse both took part in the Jets final training session yesterday ahead of today's transtasman flight.

Elrich reports no issues with his strained knee ligaments though Wheelhouse has been included in the tour party more on trust as he continues to nurse a chronic groin injury.

A plasma-rich platelet injection was required to get him through the bulk of Newcastle's surprise elimination of the Gold Coast on February 20, and he has had another jab this week - with Friday's final training run the gauge on whether he will be able to play.

"We'll just weigh up how many minutes I'm going to play and see how they feel on game day," he said, before forecasting potential surgery at the end of the season.

Compared to the Phoenix, Newcastle's preparations have been relatively trouble-free.

They have been denied defender Matt Thompson and midfielder Ben Kantarovski - who were in the Australian squad to play Indonesia in an Asian Cup qualifier in Brisbane last night, alongside Phoenix captain Andrew Durante.

Newcastle's Korean midfielder Jin-Hyung Song missed training yesterday because of illness but will travel to Wellington.

Meanwhile, Elrich and Wheelhouse were both bullish about Newcastle's prospects despite the Phoenix's imposing home record extending to 18 matches unbeaten once Perth were eliminated on penalties on February 21.

The Jets were on the receiving end in three of those games, losing 0-2 and 0-3 last season and 0-3 again this campaign in November.

Despite that uninspiring record, Elrich felt Newcastle's finals experience - they won the 2007-08 A-League crown - could work in their favour before a sell-out crowd of 34,500.

"As a club, we have been in the finals four out of five years, the experience is there. It's Wellington's first time, they looked a bit shaky against Perth," he said.

"The pressure is off us. We can just go out and enjoy it. If we can get through this week, I can smell something special."

Wheelhouse agreed, reckoning the sixth and last place qualifiers could find the Phoenix tougher to bowl than Sydney or Melbourne. "If we beat Wellington, look out - we're a big chance of winning the comp."

- NZPA