By JOSIP ZILIC
NORTH Geelong Warriors hosts Hume City in another must-win NPL match this weekend.
Coming off a 1-0 win over a resurgent Oakleigh, Hume has a very strong line-up and would ranked higher except for patchy recent form.
In contrast, North Geelong put in a disappointing performance against Melbourne Knights last week, going down 2-0.
The Knights responded to their poor showing against Oakleigh the week before, taking control in the first half when goals to Stipo Andrijasevic and Chris Talajic sealed the score.
The Knights went close in the 15th minute via Ivan Grgic heading from a corner only to be well-saved by keeper Daniel Zilic.
Three minutes later Andirjasevic made his way through a gaping hole in defence to firmly place his chance and open the scoring.
Zilic was called on again in the 25th minute to deny Andrew Barisic’s header but a couldn’t do anything to stop Talajic a few minutes later when he collected the ball on the left flank and carved into the box with a low shot.
Just before half time the Warriors’ Yusuf Yusuf missed a gilt-edged chance on the stroke of half time when running onto a through ball in the box. His effort was directly into Knights custodian Chris May who smothered at close range.
The second half was a dour affair, with the Knights sitting behind the ball and holding onto their advantage.
The Warriors were unable to crack them open while trying their luck from distance, with Gareth Richards and Reardo Luka attempting to catch May off his line but their efforts weren’t enough to test the experienced keeper.
Warriors skipper Matt Townley came close late in the piece when his free kick zipped narrowly wide of goal.
The Warriors will look back at the match as a missed opportunity to not build on their win from the previous week and now need to turn their focus onto Hume at Elcho Park this Saturday.
