By Josip Zilic
The biggest test of North Geelong’s resolve comes this Saturday night in its play off for promotion to return to NPL1 against Richmond at Jack Edwards Reserve.
Richmond face a similar situation as the Warriors did in 2015 where it finished third last in NPL1 and await the season of NPL2 to end which is done with a NPL2 playoff between the East and West second placed teams.
This time around the break was four weeks instead of five however it doesn’t exactly provide the backdrop required to build up for a finals type intensity.
North Geelong will be feeling ready for the occasion after a comprehensive 4-1 win over Dandenong Thunder last week.
Dandenong had the early opportunities and if not for some brilliant saves by Daniel Zilic the score line may have been somewhat different.
Former A-League star Kristian Sarkies unleashed a ferocious strike on 15 minutes that dipped and spun in the wet conditions which Zilic parried away in spectacular fashion.
Soon thereafter North settled and was utilising its ability to spring into transition to cause Dandenong to retreat from its early dominance.
The Warriors opened scoring on 27 minutes when Kene Eze found Nicholas Jurcic darting to goal, his strike hit a defender and fell to Michael Anderson who slammed the ball home from close distance.
Two minutes later it was Eze again playing provider powering past former Socceroo Simon Colossimo to thread the ball for Jurcic to extend the lead.
After half time North Geelong was intent on maintaining the momentum and on 48 minutes Matt Thorne intercepted a poor ball in the midfield to send Eze on a run where he again found Jurcic whose goal box bound ball was perfectly met by Anderson to notch up a comfortable lead.
Dandenong fought its way back though and lead a nervy 15 minute period for the Warriors and eventually pegged a goal back in the 61st minute when Nick Modafarri weaved his way into position to drill the ball hard and wide of Zilic to try and lift his side.
However North Geelong steadied and clawed the ascendancy back, finishing strongly with another counter attack on 81 minutes that took the sails out of Dandenong’s fortunes.
Jurcic picked up a clearance deep in North Geelong’s midfield to find Anderson who evaded his defender and oncoming keeper to place the ball for the final nail in the coffin.
A cautious yet delighted coach Micky Colina commented after the match: “It’s terrific that we’ve been able to respond in this fashion, however there is one more to go and we cannot under estimate the quality of Richmond.”
Action for the final playoff gets under way at 6pm.
