By Jordan Lim (@JordanLim24)

Kingston City has put aside its inconsistent form to string together its second-straight NPL 1 victory over North Geelong Warriors on Saturday afternoon.

The home side triumphed thanks to second-half goals to striker Arthur Papadopoulos and a late sealer from substitute Max Etheridge.

Things started ominously as City dominated proceedings early in the piece with a boisterous Grange Reserve crowd backing the boys in red.

Their intricate work around the penalty area was to go unrewarded in the first half with their best chance of the term coming in the 14th minute.

Papadopoulos rose from a corner to header into the far post, only to be halted by Warriors winger Nicholas Jurcic who blocked on the goal line.

Jurcic then ran the length of the pitch to receive a pass, before unleashing from distance, forcing a save from George Malliaris in the Kingston net.

This sparked a turn in momentum, with the away side creating chances aplenty in the latter stages of the half.

Robert Zadworny’s neat chop and shot forced another good save from Malliaris moments after Mark Paleka warmed the shot stopper’s gloves with a curling shot from the right of the box.

Paleka, who was impressive throughout the contest, then saw his goal-bound header saved by the diving ‘keeper.

The striker continued to worry the Kingston defence early in the second half as his deflected shot from the penalty spot earned a corner in which again, he came close to scoring from.

Against the run of play it was Papadopoulos who broke the deadlock in the 59th minute, nodding home at the far post from a set-piece.

Kingston should have stretched its lead through Velibor Mitrovic, with the midfielder’s header forcing a top-notch save from Frano Saric.

North Geelong’s frantic push for an equaliser nearly came to fruition as centre-back Michael Grgic pushed up the ground to find himself flicking the ball goal bound at the near post, to which Malliaris touched onto the post and out of play.

That proved the last of the resistance the Warriors could muster as they were hit with a sucker punch on the counter.

Substitute Etheridge marked his return from injury by putting the game beyond doubt, slotting low and hard past Saric with the last kick of the game.

Kingston coach Nick Tolios conceded his charges were fortunate to hold onto their lead, but was proud of how they rallied to grind out the result.

“It was a tight battle, they were on top of us in the first half. I think they had a couple clear chances that we were lucky enough not to get punished, and then our boys showed a bit of character coming out in the second half and it was just a battle,” Tolios said.

“It was just one of those games you grind and battle and get a result, which was what we wanted so ideal for us.”

Losing coach Ante Skoko was honest in his appraisal of the match, admitting despite the number of chances his side had, they didn’t deserve anything from the match because they couldn’t score.

“If you don’t score you don’t win, you don’t really deserve anything,” Skoko said.

“I thought we were good enough - in the end we created enough chances and the situations to score goals. We hit the post twice, and hit the crossbar and it just wouldn’t go in for us today.”

MATCH DETAILS

Full Time: Kingston City 2 (Papadopoulos 59’, Etheridge 90+3’) defeated North Geelong Warriors 0 at Grange Reserve [0:0]

Kingston City: 13. George Malliaris, 5. Kemar Curen (4. James Karvelis 46’), 3. Stacey Tsalkos, 19. Andrew Doig, 16. Nick Stamatiou, 17. Deniz Sabanovski, 7. Velibor Mitrovic, 11. George Stavridis (15. Gino Defeo 70’), 20. Michael Gerace, 10, John Maclean (9. Max Etheridge 63’), 14. Arthur Papadopoulos

Unused Sub(s): 2. Peter Lord, 1. Sermin Sadikovski

Yellow Card(s): Nil

Red Card(s): Nil

North Geelong Warriors: 22. Frano Saric, 15. Reha Kurul, 2. Darren Lewis, 11. Matthew Townley, 5. Michael Grgic, 7. Nicholas Juric (4. Nathan Cook 55’), 12. Nathan Long, 9. Michael Boyar, 8. Vito Cichello, 10. Robert Zadworny, 14. Mark Paleka (13. Jackson Davis 79’)

Unused Sub(s): 31. Hamish Flavell, 17. Nikola Jurovic, 3. James Duvcevski

Yellow Card(s): Lewis 58’, Savic 61’

Red Card(s): Nil

Pictured: Velibor Mitrovic controls the ball for Kingston City (image credit: Zac Groeneveld)