By JOSIP ZILIC
A WEEKEND away from NPL duties and a focus on the FFA Cup round-six match against South Springvale might be just what North Geelong Warriors need after a dismal 7-1 loss to league champion South Melbourne.
But the FFA task won’t be easy, with North Geelong’s confidence bruised and South Springvale in good form.
The Warriors will need to be at their best to continue their good cup form so far.
Micky Colina’s men would have been buoyed with a half-time score against South Melbourne of 1-0, largely due to Daniel Zilic’s heroics in goals and with the only score resulting from a wicked deflection off Michael Grgic.
However, the Warriors offered little in the way of resistance in the second half as South Melbourne ran riot.
Man of the match Nick Epifano shell shocked the Warriors, setting up Leigh Minopoulos and Andy Brennan with quick goals in the 50th and 55th minutes.
Not ready to stop there, Epifano again split the Warriors apart in the 62nd minute with a decisive ball to Andy Kecojevic who had just come onto the park to punish North with South’s fourth of the night.
With 10 minutes left and the match running out of steam, the Warriors were again caught out when Minopoulos turned playmaker, sending Chris Irwin through to slide a ball past Zilic.
The rout continued with Minopoulos securing his brace on 85 minutes when he received a ball unmarked at the back post to bundle it in for South’s sixth.
North Geelong’s only impact came when Gareth Richards was upended in the box for skipper Matt Townley to score from the spot.
To rub salt into the Warriors’ already large wound, South’s last kick of the match scored its seventh goal courtesy of Iqbal Jawadi, who slotted the ball past Zilic after controlling it on the edge of the area.
After the match North Geelong coaches and players sent an apology to the faithful, taking responsibility for the forgettable night and vowing never again to expose fans to a similar performance.
