By JOSIP ZILIC
NORTH Geelong Warriors are back at home to face off with Sunshine George Cross with both sides looking to redeem themselves quickly after heavy losses.
Sunshine had a 3-0 loss at the hands of Whittlesea Ranges, where the dynamic Ranges were too much to handle for the home side, former Warrior forward Juso Julardzija received a red card for Georgies to further dampen their mood.
The Warriors likewise were comprehensively beaten 5-2 at the hands of a youthful Melbourne City.
City took the initiative via Yusuf Ahmed and Christopher Cristaldo getting in behind the Warriors defence resulting in some early nervous moments.
North Geelong responded with Rudi Saglam providing opportunities to Michael Anderson and then Nicholas Jurčić, both of whom were just inches away from putting the away ahead.
City continued to surge through the Warriors midfield and defence with fine keeping from Daniel Zilic being the difference between the two sides initially.
Melbourne eventually took the lead via Austin Wong tapping in from close range after a Stefan Zinni through ball.
Zinni then made it two, placing the ball into an empty net following a rebound from a Christaldo shot.
The half time break brought no respite for the Warriors with City continuing the quick counter attack and ball movement to unsettle the Warriors’ tempo, Cristaldo making it 3-0, finishing of a nice flowing move.
The Warriors responded eventually and won a penalty on 63 mins which skipper Matt Townley put away, however that was quickly negated with City pouncing on a poor back pass by Saglam to Zilic which was intercepted and finished by Cristaldo.
North continued to lift themselves and Anderson grabbed his second goal in as many weeks to once more reduce the deficit, but it was again short lived when substitute Giuseppe Marafioti made it 5-2 on 78 minutes.
Coach Mick Colina commenting after the match that the shape and ball movement were lacking, and the Warriors’ focus needs to be on improving these heading into an important fixture this Saturday at Elcho Park.
