Round 16
Keilor Park (2) vs North Geelong (3)
North Geelong ventured to Keilor Park on Saturday to face a youthful side who are building for the years ahead.
In reserves action the game ended in a controversial 1 – 2 result to the home team. Last time these two met, the Keilor Park seconds handed out a 7 – 0 basting to the Warriors seconds. Well it wasn’t going to be that easy this time. The Warriors took the lead and were showing signs that it was going to produce the goods, however the top of the table Keilor hit back to level soon after. Then late in the game a speculative shot from Keilor hit the woodwork and deflected downwards, the referee consulted the linesman and he awarded the goal, however the linesman was metres from the action and one wonders why the benefit of the doubt needed to be paid. Regardless the Warriors reserves can be proud of the way they have fought back this season to produce some encouraging results.
The Warriors seniors had an indifferent day, although winners on the day they had a few moments that caused concern for coach Buljubasic. The Warriors were seemingly rushing all the lead up work and not allowing the forwards of Demo, Zadworny and Kuna to get into the game. Keilor weren’t threatening at all in the first half and almost looked content to ball gaze. A couple of near misses by Kuna and Demo saw the North boys get some fluidity back in the game and finally they broke the deadlock, courtesy of resilient pressure from Kuna who beat two to whip a shot at goal that swerved in the stiff wind to baffle the keeper and hit the underside of the bar and over the line. However that was it for the half and the Warriors went back to frustrating themselves by turning over the ball cheaply. The half ended at 0 –1.
The second half began with Keilor making changes bringing on, Mohamed Mohamed a burly striker who was doing enough to cause a headache for the yet to be tested Warriors defence. Keilor finally woke up and were pressing to gain something from the game. By doing so though, they allowed North to capitalise on the gaps. Demo forced a mistake from the approaching defender and flicked to Tabak who whipped the ball in for Kuna to add his second for the day. Once again though, North went back to turning the ball over and with Keilor pressing they worked and toiled to cause confusion and a misfortunately timed clearance from Zadworny spun into the 16-yard box for Keilor to pounce and put the score at 1 – 2. That wasn’t enough to rally the Warriors and Keilor continued to press, they jumped on the turnovers and sent a swerving ball into the box where the North defenders failed to clear and allowed the easiest of goals to be slammed into the net. With only minutes left the Warriors finally got some consistency into their game and piled on the pressure. Keilor were resorting to physicality and giving away free kicks. With 5 mins to go Keilor gave away a free kick 30 metres from goal. Saric stepped up and sent a great ball into the box for Cervinski to pop up and flick the ball past the keeper. The Warriors held on and came away the winners. A lot to take out of the game. Sometimes you need to win the gritty ones like this to convince yourself that you have the answers despite how you’re playing.
Next week the Warriors travel away to Westgate for a night match, reserves at 5pm and seniors at 7pm.
In other action the Women’s team had a disappointing day against Darebin going down 1 – 2 at home. Under 15A had a hard fought 0 – 0 draw with Sunshine Heights, they remain on top of the ladder though. Under 11 FFV side had a 4 –1 win over St Albans which sees them in 4th position 3 points away from leader Altona City whom they play on the last match of the season.
Remember this Sunday is the monthly Club lunch, $15 for a delicious 3 course meal.
