By Josip Zilic
One of the toughest road trips in the competition awaits North Geelong as it prepares for its round 19 clash with Springvale White Eagles.
Like the Warriors, Springvale sits in third place on its NPL2 East conference ladder.
The crossover matches between the west and east conferences started with a strong dominance in favour of the latter but as the season has worn on the results have evened out.
In Springvale the Warriors will find an opponent that will be determined to continue on from its win against top-placed Dandenong City as well as a draw the week before against second-placed Moreland City.
With those results to bear in mind the Warriors will need to be cautious but optimistic because their own form in the past six weeks has yielded five wins and a draw.
Helping them along the way is a midfield that is combining well and scoring too. Julian Cassano has got on the end of three goals in recent weeks, while forward Darius Madison has continued his form with a tally of nine for the season after a brace against Whittlesea.
The 3-1 win last weekend against Whittlesea reflected the Warriors’ confidence as well as a positive, hard-working ethic that has set into the side.
The attitude was typified by the defensive work of the back four, led well by Ben Hampson and Nick Teichmann.
When Whittlesea managed to try overloading the flanks and drive crosses into the box both Hampson and Teichmann marshalled the troops well, protecting the goals from imminent threat. So effective was their work that Whittlesea’s only score was from a penalty when the defenders tried a little too hard and a lunging Hampson ended up wearing a driven ball straight into his arm, giving away the spot kick.
Action this week is away at Springvale on Saturday, with the under-20s kicking off at 1pm followed by the seniors.
