Soccer: North off to flyer after his late arrival

Jade North. Photo / Getty Images

Jade North might have felt like his body was somewhere still over the Indian Ocean but you wouldn't have known judging by his performance against the Victory on Wednesday night.

The new Wellington Phoenix recruit has seen more of airport terminals than training grounds in the past two weeks as he made his way from the Arctic Circle in Norway to Wellington via Poland and Switzerland. He soon boarded another plane to Melbourne before facing the Victory mid-week.

Mercifully, the Phoenix have remained in the Victorian capital for the second of their Melbourne double-header against the competition newcomers, the Heart.

"The body has taken a bit of a hammering recently," he says. "I hadn't played a game in five weeks and had one [training] session with the boys before playing the Victory so I pulled up pretty sore after the game. When we get back to Wellington next week, I will have the whole week to recover."

North is a good acquisition for a Phoenix squad that now has very good depth. The Socceroos defender has been reunited with skipper Andrew Durante - the pair won the A-League title with Newcastle in 2007/08 - and they will be arguably the best central defensive partnership in the league.

North's presence pushed Ben Sigmund out to right-back for Wednesday's game and Sigmund is expected to start there again today but the arrival of North also allows coach Ricki Herbert to experiment with the 3-4-3 formation he used with the All Whites at the World Cup. North, Durante and Sigmund would make up the back three.

It won't be tried today and any future change in formation will have an effect on the midfield. Nick Ward's recent arrival from the Melbourne Victory has given the midfield a good balance. Ward is the creative force everyone expected Tim Brown to be - he was never that sort of player - combining both a good passing and running game.

It allows Brown to play his natural game, based more on hard work and late runs into the box, and the pair know defensive midfielder Manny Muscat will snap and bark away behind them.

Vince Lia played this role previously but he might struggle to get back into the side if everyone remains fit. Lia is recovering from a hamstring strain and could start today from the bench.

Herbert targetted four points from their Melbourne venture and, after claiming one from the 0-0 draw with the Victory, will want the maximum today.

"Four points would be fantastic from back-to-back games in Melbourne," North says. "But the biggest thing is for us is just not to lose."

Today's game brings to an end a tough run of fixtures that has featured four away games in five matches. The Phoenix can then look forward to a block of three home games in their next five.