Soccer: Adshead backing new faces

Give youth a chance appears to be the call with the naming of the New Zealand Knights squad to play Newcastle Jets at North Harbour Stadium tonight.

And, just as importantly, New Zealand players are being given a sniff of the action with five of the six New Zealanders in the 20-strong squad set to play at least a part.

In come Jeremy Brockie and Josh Maguire, out go (from the squad for last week's loss to Central Coast) Sean Devine and Xiaobin Zhang in what coach John Adshead tags as a minor tweaking.

Aware of the off-field ructions the club has had to deal with this week, Adshead has not let that sully his judgement or lessen his humour.

"The key will be to play as well as we did in the opening 45 minutes against the Mariners and combine that with the second half effort of a week earlier against Sydney.

"We have proved we can do it in bursts, but we must now put a total match together."

The match has special significance for Adshead and his Knights and he acknowledges that one of the team's worst efforts this season was when they lost 4-0 in Newcastle.

Adshead has yet to settle on his starting XI, waiting until he has seen the likely Jets' line-up.

"While all the Australian teams are of pretty much the same standard and we know how good they are, all are slightly different," he said.

"We have to prepare accordingly, but we are not going to get paranoid about any players. It is far more important for us to get our game right."

Adshead will be aware of the threats posed by players like Ned Zelic, Nick Carle, Jade North, Mateo Corbo and the promise of Franco Parisi.

"Zelic might not be as quick as he once was, but he still has the ability to drop balls in front of his strikers. They are also well-served in midfield where Richard Johnson has shown out."

Brockie will be keen to get some more game time than he managed in his debut off the bench against Sydney. He and other young New Zealanders Cole Tinkler and Kris Bright should see some action.

Should Brockie and Bright get to play together, or even alongside Simon Yeo, they will be aware of the need to score much-needed goals.

The return of one goal every two games is Adshead's biggest concern.

"It's simple," he said. "If you don't score goals you are not giving yourself a chance to win."

That is why after 10 games, their five-goal return has them on the back-foot and at the bottom of the table.