By JOSIP ZILIC
Another PlayStation 4 NPL2 road trip beckons for North Geelong as it heads to Bendigo in round seven action.
Bendigo went down to Goulbourn Valley last weekend and have only been able to score one goal to date, albeit in their first win of the year against the more fancied Eastern Lions a fortnight ago.
Opposition teams have found it hard to break Bendigo down at home and we expect this weekend to be no different.
North Geelong came away from an action packed, high level performance against Kingston with a 2-2 draw that has drawn many positive response from the fans.
After a cagey start, Kingston got off to a somewhat fortunate lead after the Warriors midfield clumsily lost possession in the middle of the park. Swooping on the loose ball to clear was Kingston’s Zdenek Koukal who hit the ball so well that it sailed over everyone including Daniel Zilic in goals to clip the bar and slot into the net for the lead.
Sparked into life, the Warriors offered plenty going forward but were initially wasteful with their chances.
Kingston was awarded a penalty in the 25th minute to add more spark to the match however it was overturned after the referee and his assistant convened.
With the sense of luck and a lift in tempo the Warriors approached the second half with ascendancy, and with Kene Eze coming on to replace Burkhan Koca the options to goal increased.
On 67 minutes it was Eze who got past defenders to open up the chance for Michael Anderson and the latter finishing well to level the scores.
Warriors’ pressure continued – several attempts hitting the woodwork seemed to encourage them – and at 75 minutes Darren Lewis headed the ball onto the bar followed up by Matt Thorne for the lead.
With minutes left in a prolonged injury time the home side found one last chance and it fell to youngster Kosta Droutsas who collected the spilled ball – after Zilic charged out of his box to close down a contest – and slotted perfectly for the draw.
“We knew players like Mitrovic and Karpeh would be a handful but we also have some good players making an impact, it was great to see the range of tempo we offered to respond and continue on”, said Colina after the match.
