NEWCASTLE Jets back Taren King remains wary of upcoming A-League Women's opponents Wellington Phoenix despite having beaten them 5-1 only a fortnight ago.
The 24-year-old, in her second season at the club, feels the Kiwi group would have worked on the way Newcastle pressed them defensively ahead of Monday's clash at Central Coast Stadium.
King believes the Jets, coming off a 1-all draw with the Western Sydney Wanderers, need to be ready for "that underdog mentality".
"They probably didn't pick up on the way we were pressing them too much," King said when responding to what the Phoenix may change this time around.
"I would assume they've worked on picking up the cues we're trying to press them on, as well as making better decisions on when to play out and how to play out.
"They've probably got that underdog mentality coming into the game and we've got to be ready for that."
Newcastle wiped Wellington off the park at McDonald Jones Stadium on December 10, but the teams now come face-to-face again inside the same month.
"Sometimes that's the trouble playing teams not so long after you've already played them, especially when we've had a very convincing win," King said.
"We all know we did really well and they're probably chasing us now. We've just got to make sure we put in another good performance and they've got to bring it to us rather than us changing too much."
The fifth-placed Jets have experienced a mixed bag of results from the opening three rounds of the national competition - one loss, one win and a draw - to leave them with four points and two shy of the top four.
It comes after finishing last with just seven points in 2020-21.
"Last year we had a pretty fresh team coming together," King said.
"We tried to knuckle down and keep most of the base from last year and build on that. I think you can really see from the results already we've stepped up.
"I think we're definitely playing better football and it's really promising."
The Jets are also scheduled to meet City in Melbourne on January 2.
