By JOSIP ZILIC
NORTH Geelong Warriors will head to Dandenong Thunder for Round 12 action with renewed confidence after a positive showing in its nil-all draw against league leader Heidelberg United last week.
Dandenong are coming off a 4-2 loss to Oakleigh last week, where they had the resurgent Cannons in an even contest at half time with scores at 1-1 but lost their way in the second stanza with the Cannons piling on the goals.
The Warriors may feel somewhat aggrieved to not have collected all three points but equally could have rued the day if not for the work of Daniel Zilic in goals and the inaccuracy of Heidelberg’s forwards.
The Warriors had the better of the first half, their best opportunity in the 29th minUTE being blasted over the bar after Reardo Luka after rounding keeper Griffin McMaster
At the restart the home side continued to surge at goal and it was Luka again seeing his header whizz just wide of target.
However Heidelberg built their attacks eventually and sustained pressure for a lengthy patch with a series of attempts.
Their fortune wouldn’t fall as Zilic was on hand to deny their efforts with a keeping display to behold.
Throughout the match the physical contest had the referee working hard to keep the tempers at bay with Heidelberg notching up 6 yellow cards.
In the dying minutes the tipping point came when Heidelberg’s Dan Heffernan was at the centre of a player melee, initially receiving a caution but unable to contain his anger received a follow up yellow card to receive his marching orders.
With those tense moments wrapping up the match both sides almost snatched a late goal with Heidelberg hitting the bar twice, North’s Robert Zadworny spraying just wide of goal and Juso Julardzija failing to unleashing his shot after working his opponent off the ball.
