The 25-year-old lost his spot between the posts to his younger rival after an ongoing knee injury saw him miss a large chunk of the pre-season.

But the Newcastle native says he plans to make the most of his earlier-than-expected opportunity when the Hunter outfit travels to Allianz Stadium to take on the Sky Blues in a blockbuster encounter.

Birighitti was sent off in midway through the second half of a 2-0 loss against his former club Adelaide United for handling the ball outside the box.

“(Mark) was probably a bit unfortunate but sometimes you get calls going with you and sometimes against you,” Kennedy said.

“It’s disappointing for him – he’s worked hard in the pre-season and gone well. It’s never nice to get sent off like that or see your teammate sent off.

“Obviously though I’m just looking to make the most of the opportunity now, get fit again and keep my spot.”

“I’ve been number one and obviously I want to work hard to get that spot back.”

A record crowd is anticipated for Alessandro Del Piero’s first home game of the season, while marquee Emile Heskey will lead the line for the visitors. Both teams are desperate to make amends for their round one defeats. Kennedy admits it’s a big stage to make his A-League re-entry and the perfect chance to give coach Gary van Egmond a major selection headache.

“You’ve got to work hard for your spot and that’s what I’ll be doing,” he said.

“It’s always good to play in front of a big crowd and big games – I always look forward to them. With a big crowd there always that bit of a rush.

“But you just go there and look to turn in a good performance. That’s what I’ll be looking to do and not just myself but all of the boys will be stepping up to the challenge.

“There’s a bit of disappointment (from round one). The first game of the year, we would have liked to put in a bit better performance, but saying that we’re still confident.

“Things didn’t go to plan but we’re still confident in how we’re trying to play in Gary’s system and what he wants us to do.

“There’s obviously going to be weeks when we don’t perform to our best but we’ll look to set things right this weekend.”

Kennedy signed with the Jets as a 17-year-old and was the only goalkeeper on the club’s roster for the first half of his senior debut season until veteran shot stopper Ante Covic arrived.

With no back-up, he recalls running on the field injured to take his place between the sticks. He’ll have to draw on the same determination this weekend following his interrupted build-up to Season 8.

“The injury didn’t help too much but I’m starting to get back to fitness and really looking forward to the game,” he said.

“Obviously it’s hard not being able to have a full pre-season but sometimes that happens and you just have to move on from it.

“The opportunity has come up a lot quicker than I probably thought it would but this weekend I’m just looking to putting in a good performance and we’ll go from there.”