By Josip Zilic
In their last home match of the NPL season, the North Geelong Warriors were unable to find a cog in their gears to get them to turn the match into a contest and were made to pay with three first-half goals.
It’s been a long and arduous season for the Warriors where the gap between the haves and have nots is getting further apart.
Despite some early season hope, the results never came and in this league you are made to pay dearly for not being able to take your opportunities as they present themselves.
That was made clear in the first half last week, when on five minutes Elvis Kamsoba received a long clearing ball after a North Geelong attack where he was too nifty for Ivan Grgic and dispatched the ball with ease past the oncoming Daniel Zilic.
The heads dropped, and on 24 minutes Kym Harris was on hand to finish an unchallenged ball in the box to set an early buffer.
The Knights who need to lift their own performances ahead of a relegation playoff with the successful NPL2 side continued to build the margin when Kym Harris converted a penalty from a handball just before half time.
To the Warriors credit, they lifted in the second half with the introduction of Nathan Long freeing up Michael Anderson to run at defenders.
Midway through the second half, the Warriors were paid a penalty for a foul on Damian Falla where Andrew Doig’s attempt was saved. Soon after though, an ensuing cross into the box was scrambled upon, and Michael Anderson was on hand to stab it into the back of the net.
However, the resurgence ended there, and to add to the Warriors woes Marijan Cvitkovic was able to restore the three-goal buffer on 90 minutes for the 4-1 end result.
Next week in their final match of 2017, the Warriors are away to Hume City on Sunday 3pm.
