By Tonci Prusac (@tonciprusac)

Third-placed North Geelong Warriors carved out a valuable 2-1 win over eighth-placed Kingston City in a hard fought Round 18 encounter at home on Saturday afternoon.

Played on a heavy and slippery Elcho Park pitch, the physical clash saw eight yellow cards handed out to both sides, with each team copping four cautions.

In the end, it was two goals either side of half time - Mark Paleka’s strike in the opening stanza and Man of the Match Reardo Luka’s successful effort in the 77^th minute – which secured North the three points and solidified a top-three spot.

Both teams went into today’s clash on the back of excellent victories against highly fancied opponents last weekend.

The home side had ascended to third spot on the ladder and into serious promotion contention following an incredible 5-2 victory against the previously second placed Bulleen Lions last Saturday night. 

Kingston City, meanwhile, produced a stellar performance to upset third-placed Richmond 3-1 at The Grange Reserve on Monday night. 

Despite a frantic opening to the game, slippery conditions made it hard for players from both teams to stay on their feet, let alone play any kind of possession football.

Nonetheless, the opening half did see the ball hit the back of the net on two occasions.

In the 17th minute and against the run of play, in form Kingston striker Max Etheridge found himself on the end of a delightful cross, calmly floating the ball past a stranded North 'keeper, Daniel Zilic. 

With the Warriors largely dominating possession, it was simply a case of 'when' their many forrays into the opposing half would finally reap rewards. 

That was to occur on the half hour mark, when another in form attacker, Paleka, magnificently launched his thunderbolt past Kingston custodian Sermin Sadikovski to equalise for the home side and, in the process, net his eighth goal of the season.

Following the resumption of play in the second half, Paleka had an opportunity within 60 seconds to net his double, but his shot from point-blank range was aimed straight at Sadikovski.

North continued to dominate possession, but it wasn’t until the 77^th minute that the Warriors would eventually find the back of the net. 

The Kingston defenders were caught napping as they allowed the ever dangerous Reardo Luka to float into the goalmouth, and float his header past Sadikovski. 

In a further blow to the visitors, the Kingston custodian came off second best in the ensuing mid-air collision with Luka and was forced to be stretchered off the ground.

The Warriors had to endure some tense moments in the closing stages of the game, but managed to hold off a resilient Kingston City and secure all three points.

The win has ignited talk of promotion for the Geelong outfit, but Warriors’ coach Mick Colina is doing his utmost to keep his troops’ feet firmly on the ground. 

“Let’s not get caught up in the hype,” a relieved Colina said after the game.

“We need to worry about doing what we’ve been doing each week and gradually raising the bar. 

“We can’t control what is happening with other teams and what’s taking place at other grounds, but we can control how we play and what happens in our games.

“Our supporters are talking promotion, and that’s human nature that people are starting to get excited. 

“But we in the dressing room need to keep a lid on it and have our feet firmly on the ground.”

His Kingston counterpart, Nick Tolios, was quite ‘matter-of-fact’ after the game.

“It was a typical Sunday afternoon ‘kick in the park’ game from the old junior days. It was a hard slog, played on a hard ground, very heavy and the surface was quite tough to play on,” Tolios said.

“We conceded two soft goals, we soaked up a bit of pressure, but credit to North Geelong, they came back from a goal down and won in the end.”

In Round 19 action, next weekend, the Warriors will make the long trip to Bendigo to take on FC Bendigo on Saturday night, while Kingston City will host Dandenong City at The Grange Reserve in Monday Night Football.

MATCH DETAILS: 

North Geelong 2 (Paleka 30’, Luka 77’) defeated Kingston City 1 (Ethridge 17’) at Elcho Park (HT 1-1)

North Geelong Warriors: 1. Daniel ZILIC, 15. Michael GRGIC, 3. Matthew TOWNLEY, 13. Nathan LONG, 17. Nicholas JURCIC (2. Darren LEWIS 27’), 8. Vito CICHELLO, 7. Reardo LUKA, 14. Mark PALEKA, 10. Robert ZADWORNY, 6. Stipe TRBUHOVIC (23. Michael BOYAR 62’), 77. Juso JULARDZIJA.

Unused subs: 18. Nicholas ANDERSON, 21. Jackson DAVIS, 31. Hamish FLAVELL.

Yellow cards: ZADWORNY 31’, LEWIS 43’, GRGIC 93’, PALEKA 93’.

Red cards: None 

Kingston City: 26. Sermin SADIKOVSKI (GK) (13. Nicholaus WOOLWARD 79’), 11. George STAVRIDIS, 2. Peter LORD, 6. Nick MODAFFARI,14. Arthur PAPADAPOULOS (15. Gino DEFEO 67’), 5. Kemal CURAN, 7. Velibor MITROVIC (20. Nick MILIARESIS 76’), 16. Nick STAMATIOU,12. Stelios KONSTANTINIDIS, 19. Andrew DOIG 9. Max ETHERIDGE.

Subs unused: 3. Stacy TSALKOS, 18. Tass ASAPITOS.

Yellow cards: MODAFFARI 51’, LORD 57’, STAVRIDIS 64’ 

Red cards: None