Newcastle coach Branko Culina believes his side is very much a work in progress but confident good times are just around the corner for the 2007 A-League champions.

The depleted Jets can climb off the bottom of the table with victory over Wellington at Westpac Stadium on Wednesday but Culina admitted he would be happy with a point against a team who are yet to lose at home this season.

"It is going to be a very difficult game for us," Culina said.

"The league is very tight and everyone can beat each other but Wellington are a side that have only lost once in eight games and have quality players like Paul Ifill, Chris Greenacre and Leo Bertos so we are under no illusions about the size of our task."

The Jets will be without key defenders Adam D'Apuzzo and young Ben Kantarovski who are missing through suspension and international duty respectively.

Culina also admitted the game may have come too soon for former Socceroos defender Ljubo Milicevic who has missed the last three games with a heel injury.

"We are down on numbers but it will give some of the other players the chance to show what they can do," he said.

One of the players the former Sydney FC coach will be relying on is English striker Michael Bridges who's been a breath of fresh air since joining the club last month, according to Culina.

"Michael is a very experienced striker who has been great since his arrival on and off the field," he said.

"He gives us something different in attack and can hold the ball up and I have been delighted with him."

Sydney FC exposed Wellington's lack of pace in defence in their 3-1 victory last Sunday with Alex Brosque in particular causing havoc on the left flank, but Culina admitted his side does not have the players to do the same.

"We aren't really blessed with a lot of pace in attack so we have to look at different ways of getting in behind them and trying to score goals," he said.

"We did that earlier this season when we beat them 3-2 at home. We have a gameplan and if we stick to it hopefully we can get something from the game."

Wednesday's match had been deferred from last month to accommodate the New Zealand national team's World Cup qualifying match against Bahrain.