By Josip Zilic
The stage is set for a grandstand finish to the NPL2 season for North Geelong with an all-important clash against regional rival Ballarat City this Saturday.
Ballarat managed to secure its NPL status with a crucial win in last week’s round against Brunswick.
With a patchy season under their belt and the opportunity to play freely, the imminent threat to the Warriors will be the ever-present goal-scoring feats of Michael Trigger, who has 14 under his belt this year.
However, the Warriors will carry a sense of resolve about them after facing a range of adversity through the season to be in a position that could lead to a promotion playoff.
Last week’s victory against Werribee typified the Warriors’ season, twice coming from behind to get over the top of a strong opponent.
In the thick of it for North Geelong was Darius Madison, who was at the centre of all the attacking forays and drew a lot of the defensive pressure to allow his teammates to get behind the lines and create scoring opportunities.
The most-identifiable aspect to the Warriors’ game last week was the work rate and resilience. Despite going down twice they managed to score three times in response and take out the win 3-2 with goals to James Coutts, Ben Hampson and Nick Teichmann.
The final round’s staging at Elcho Park will add to the drama. Finishing off the season in front of the home fans may just be the recipe to get the Warriors over the line against a traditionally difficult side to play against.
Action gets under way at 12:45pm
In under-20s action, the Warriors were unable to overcome Werribee. North Geelong went down 2-1, with the goal to Jesse Krasic.
In the build up to the final round North Geelong Warriors is calling on the greater Geelong community to support St Vinnies Farmers Appeal, accepting donations at vinnies.org.au/page/Donate/Vinnies_Current_Appeals/Drought_Appeal.
