JETS coach Branko Culina offered divine intervention as one way of stopping Melbourne big guns Carlos Hernandez and Archie Thompson, but home-grown midfielder Jobe Wheelhouse had a couple of other ideas.
"The South Americans don't like to be kicked around as much as the Aussie boys do," Wheelhouse said.
The noted hard man will be charged with lessening the impact of the dynamic duo when the Jets host the defending champions at EnergyAustralia Stadium tomorrow.
Wheelhouse was in the stands on the comeback from injury when Hernandez and Thompson engineered a great escape in round 10 at EAS.
Trailing 1-0 deep into the second half, Thompson produced a deft lob to level the scores before Hernandez stepped up to ensure all three points went south.
The Costa Rican striker produced a stinging strike which Ben Kennedy deflected onto the bar only for Tom Pondeljak to slot home the rebound.
The silken-skilled playmaker then produced a party trick, nutmegging Kennedy, to seal the result.
"You can pray that Thompson and Hernandez will not score goals like that again," Culina said. "Those things happen at times. Sheer class can turn a game.
"If someone hits a ball from 35 yards and it goes right into the pigeonhole, what can you do about that?
"As long as you ensure you do your homework in the general play, that's all we can do."
The Costa Rican has been out with an ankle injury, while Thompson could be jaded after playing 90 minutes for the Socceroos in their 2-2 draw in Kuwait midweek.
Regardless, they can expect a hostile reception from Wheelhouse.
"We have all seen how good Hernandez is in front of goal, whether it's from 10 yards or 30 yards," Wheelhouse said.
"The whole midfield has to play tight and shut down every opportunity.
"The best way is to get in his face. A lot of the South Americans don't like the physical stuff.
"They will try and milk as many fouls as they can. We just have to be smart about it and shut down his space.
"If there is a 50-50 ball, none of our midfielders are going to pull out. We will be going into every challenge as hard as we can.
"The same goes with Archie. If they get half a yard, they will punish you. We need to be tight all over the park."
Despite winning four of their past five games, the Jets have been guilty of leaking goals.
Apart from the 4-0 thumping to Perth on Boxing Day, they also gave up two goals in each of their wins over North Queensland and the Gold Coast.
They sit in fourth place on 28 points, but they have the third worst defence (31 goals) and third worst goal difference (-6) in the league.
"They say goals win games and defence wins you a championship," Culina said.
"We need to tighten up; we know that.
"Our defensive game as a whole has been a little bit down.
"We need to say, 'Where do we need to tighten up. Is it only the defence? Do we go to a back five? Do we stick with a back four and reinforce the midfield?
"Against Perth we did not really defend from the front. If you do not do that, there is going to be more pressure.
"It's about being more disciplined about the whole thing."
[PI9016] The Jets youth side had a 0-0 draw with Melbourne last night at Adamstown Oval.
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