HE bided his time for more than seven months, before evenutally winning a recall to the Newcastle Jets' starting line-up.
Unfortunately goalkeeper Lewis Italiano had to wait only another four minutes before he was picking the ball out of his net.
Such is the life of a reserve keeper in the A-League, but Italiano had no complaints about the occupational hazards of his chosen career path after Sunday's 4-1 loss to Adelaide at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Before he even had a chance to work up a sweat, the 30-year-old looked up to see skipper Nigel Boogaard lose possession just outside the penalty area and, in an instant, Adelaide striker Kusini Yengi had made it 1-0 to the visitors.
"It's always a bit nerve-racking when you've got a striker coming straight at you, but that's what we train for," Italiano said.
"We train day in, day out for those type of scenarios ... to come in like that, you've got to be ready from the start."
To come in like that, you've got to be ready from the start.
LEWIS ITALIANO
Like his teammates, Italiano will be eager to make amends at the earliest opportunity, which will be on Saturday when they take on Perth Glory at HBF Park.
"We'd like to give the fans a win, as well, to pay them back for what happened last week ... we want to go out there and show not just ourselves, but our fans, that we can do this week in, week out, as we had been," he said.
Italiano finished last season as Newcastle's No.1 gloveman, stringing together 13 starting appearances after New Zealand international Glen Moss was injured.
The return this season of Jack Duncan meant Italiano was relegated to back-up, which he admitted had been "frustrating".
But with Duncan battling an arm injury, Italiano has a chance to press his claims, and he can think of no better place to do so than Perth, where he was born and bred.
"A trip home in Perth is always good ... to play in front of the family, it doesn't happen very often, because obviously Perth is a long way away," he said.
"To play in front of them live, instead of on TV, is always a privilege."
Italiano said the Jets had analysed the loss to Adelaide and coach Craig Deans' advice was to learn from it and move on.
"A performance like that, you can't really dwell on it," Italiano said.
After four successive defeats, Newcastle are fast losing touch with the top six.
But they were in a similar rut last season before finishing with seven wins and three draws in their last 11 games, to miss the finals by just three points.
"The ladder is quite tight at the moment," Italiano said.
"You can end up anywhere in the next couple of weeks."
