Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper Mark Paston will return to the line-up for tomorrow night's clash with Melbourne Victory.

The New Zealand international missed the 4-1 loss to Brisbane Roar last week after colliding with captain Andrew Durante at training in the lead-up but is available to tackle the league leaders which is a major boost for the team who admit they played poorly in Round 16.

"It was difficult. As a player you want to be out there contributing on the field and watching it on TV isn't good. We didn't defend to our usual high standards against the Roar," Paston said of last weekend.

"This season we haven't let too many teams have a good look at goal and the Brisbane game was certainly one where we didn't play all that well. The good thing is that everyone involved put their hands up and admitted that."

Paston said it was important for the club to get back to where they were defensively before the Roar aberration and get a positive result against the Victory.

"We simply need to get back to where we have been," he added.

"We haven't been letting in many goals and as a unit we have to recapture that drive to limit the teams on attack and their shots on goal, naturally that will limit the number of goals they get - if any.

"It's pretty simple really - if I keep the ball out of the back of the net we don't lose."

The Phoenix host the Victory at Westpac Stadium tomorrow night in Round 17 of A-League action.