By JOSIP ZILIC
Nick Jurcic’s quality finishes inspired North Geelong to its first win in over a month – in its 2-0 victory over Melbourne City last weekend – to put the Warriors back on track.
They now head off to Sunshine on Saturday to try and consolidate the turn in form.
Sunshine Georgies, who have recollected themselves somewhat from their disappointing start to the year, come off a solid performance where they managed a 2-2 draw against league leader Whittlesea.
Their seesawing contest saw them go down twice before clawing back into the contest and then step up to put Whittlesea under great pressure to narrowly miss several opportunities to come away with an upset win.
The Warriors will head into the contest with renewed confidence after steadying the losses the week before against Werribee then collecting all three points at home to Melbourne City.
On a perfect winter’s day, the Warriors got off to a lightning start when Jurcic was put through on goal on the 4th minute by Kene Eze to beat his man and slot his 15-metre low drive past the keeper into the bottom corner.
With the momentum all theirs, the Warriors went about building opportunities while choking supply to Melbourne City’s midfield, causing several turnovers in dangerous areas.
However it was City that almost scored next, when two shots in two minutes from Marcus Demanche were well saved by Daniel Zilic to keep a clean sheet.
After the break the tempo was building and the tension got to Melbourne City’s Bailey Row, receiving a yellow card for a poor tackle, then his second yellow seconds later for dissent towards the referee to receive his marching orders.
With the result heading towards a solid 1-0 win, Jurcic stepped up again this time, receiving a well weighted through ball from Matt Thorne – beating his man on the outside of the box and driving towards goal, he slammed his shot past James Delianov to put the result beyond doubt.
Coach Micky Colina was delighted after proceedings.
“Probably the most complete performance of our season to date,” Colina said.
Colina drew on the work the team put in to specifically address their transitional elements of the game which was evident on the weekend.
Kickoff is against Sunshine George Cross is 3pm, Saturday 16 July, at Chaplin Reserve, Sunshine.
