[Napoleon Solo]

New Zealand Knights v Newcastle Jets

This is a match that doesn't interest me from a betting perspective at all, though I'll be listening intently as to how the teams both perform.

After a poor first season with just one away win and only two points to show from their home games, the Knights have added significantly to their squad over the summer, the most notable additions being former WBA defender Matt Carbon and Scottish midfielder Scot Gemmill. They've certainly looked more solid during the pre-season games, but a record of 0-3-3 (3-6) is certainly nothing to shout about. The club have also been under somewhat of an uncertain future recently, with doubts over their place in the league over the coming seasons and unrest at boardroom level, although both of these issues seemed to have been resolved. The Knights have some injury worries coming into this game, especially at the back with Carbon out through injury and Frank Van Eijs suspended. Striker Dani Rodrigues and midfielder Noah Hickey are alos likely to miss out with injuries.

Newcastle had an even worse pre-season than New Zealand drawing just twice in their six games, one of which was at the North Harbour Stadium against the Knights. Their preseason preperations weren't helped by losing Liam Reddy, Ante Milicic and Ned Zelic, although the arrivals of Joel Griffiths, Paul Okon and Milton Rodriguez have been significant. Griffiths will more than likely start up front for the Jets despite not being fully-fit, however Milton hasn't recieved immigration clearance as yet so will be unavailable. Newcastle should start with three at the back, Paul Okon, Jade North and Andrew Durante, in what should be a rather defensive line-up as the look to shore things up at the back.

Neither team have had ideal pre-seasons, and with the lack of form and amount of unavailable players for each side I'm not going to get involved with this. A low scoring draw wouldn't suprise me!