By Josip Zilic
North Geelong Warriors banged on six goals in just over 30 minutes to come from behind for its biggest win of the season away from home against Brunswick City last weekend.
North Geelong was busy early, with a Robert Zadworny cross getting past fast-approaching Michael Anderson for a goal kick.
That was quickly followed by Reardo Luka’s shot at goal after receiving a long pass only to find the hands of Brunswick keeper Mason Interlandi.
Brunswick opened the scoring on 15 minutes when Dimitri Vithoulkas slipped past the Warriors’ defence and lobbed a neat ball over Daniel Zilic in goals.
With plenty of possession and control, the Warriors had plenty of chances including Zadworny’s break from the left to beat his defender. The resulting shot at goal from a sharp angle tested Interlandi, forcing him to tip over the bar.
The second half was all North Geelong, with a 30-minutre blitz starting in the 54th minute when Mark Paleka’s shot deflected to fall for Luka to tap in from close range.
Two minutes laster Nathan Long whipped a ball in from the right flank finding Luka in penalty area to head home.
On 59 minutes Michael Anderson finished a well-placed ball by Paleka who, after having a shot saved by Interlandi, collected his own ball to lay off for the skipper.
On 75 minutes Luka collected his hat-trick with a perfectly-placed finish after working his way into position to collect a cross in the area.
Then Zadworny drilled a strong low shot on 85 minutes, followed by more pain for Brunswick when a foul in the penalty area during injury time gave North Geelong centre back Matthew Townley a share of the spoils to seal the 6-1 win.
Brunswick coach Joe De Martino shared his frustration at his side failing to close out the game, giving away a lead held for around 50 minutes.
North Geelong Warriors coach Micky Colina was delighted with the emphatic score but thought the margin should have been larger.
“Overall I’m happy and the game plan is coming together. We just need to execute better in front of goal.”
The Warriors play Dandenong City in a derby match with their sister club this Saturday.
With nine goals in the past two matches, the Warriors are finding the net but Dandenong is coming off an indifferent form patch.
A loss to Richmond on the weekend will give Dandenong coach Ivan Duzel enough reason to rouse up the troops to try overturning their round-one loss at home to the Warriors.
