By Ahmed Yussuf (@ahmedyussuf10)

North Geelong Warriors’ six-goal second half sealed a 6-1 victory against cellar-dweller Brunswick City on Saturday afternoon at Dunstan Reserve.

A second-half hat-trick to Warriors attacker Reardo Luka, a goal apiece from Michael Anderson and Robbie Zadworny and a late penalty dispatched by Matthew Townley, cancelled out a lobbed goal by Brunswick’s Dimitri Vithoulkas in the first half.

North Geelong created the first opportunity of the game, with Zadworny’s cross from the left side eluding the on-rushing Anderson for a goal kick.

The Warriors had another chance on goal soon after when a long pass from midfield found the head of Luka, whose effort went straight into the hands of Brunswick custodian Mason Interlandi.

Brunswick found the breakthrough in the 14th minute however, when Vithoulkas was played in behind the North Geelong defence with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Vithoulkas saw North Geelong shot-stopper Daniel Zilic off his line and expertly lobbed the ball into the back of the net.

With halftime fast approaching Interlandi was put to work, with Zadworny’s run from the left beating his man found himself in an acute angle to shoot, but Brunswick’s ‘keeper came out big to tip the shot over the bar and into safety.

The second half began but with a change in momentum. A five-minute blitz saw the Warriors overturn the 1-0 halftime deficit.

North Geelong’s Mark Paleka’s deflected angled shot fortuitously fell right into the path of Luka, who tapped the ball in from centimeters out.

Luka would find himself on the goalsheet once again minutes later. Nathan Long’s cross from the right side found North Geelong’s hat-trick hero free in the penalty area, who headed home to hand the Warriors the lead.

Paleka yet again was involved in the lead-up to a North Geelong goal.

Interlandi saved Paleka’s shot on goal but the deflection fell kindly to the North Geelong man, before he released Anderson for an easy finish into an open net.

Luka completed his hat-trick with a nicely slotted finish, swiveling to meet a cross and tuck it away.

North Geelong’s Vito Cichello tried to edge his name onto the scoresheet, but his curling effort hit the post.

After a tiresome display on the wing, Zadworny found some joy when he fired in a low shot to rub salt into the wounded Brunswick defence.

Brunswick suffered more pain when it conceded a late penalty.

Townley stepped up to take the penalty and dispatched the spot kick to seal North Geelong’s 6-1 win.

Brunswick City coach Joe De Martino was left to lament his side’s inability to put in a solid performance over the entire 90 minutes.

“[Brunswick] performed admirable for the first 52 minutes,” De Martino said.

“In the last four weeks, we’ve performed well for the first 30 minutes.

“We just got to get to the point where we can do this well for 90 minutes.”

The opening of the transfer window has seen De Martino add to his squad, and he’s confident he will add more signings before the window closes on July 1.

“Absolutely, in fact we were disappointed because we had four signatures,” he said.

“But only one available for today and that was a bit frustrating.”

North Geelong Warriors coach Micky Colina was pleased with the 6-1 scoreline but felt the disparity could have been larger.

“If I’m being really greedy it (scoreline) could’ve been more. I was disappointed in the first half; our finishing let us down,” Colina said.

“We dominated from the outset football wise, it was just unfortunate we conceded that goal.

“But I was happy the way we played our game, we just let ourselves down in front of goal in the first half.”

MATCH DETAILS

Brunswick City 1 (Dimitri VITHOULKAS 15’) defeated by North Geelong Warriors 6 (Reardo LUKA 53’ 54’ 74’, Michael ANDERSON 57’, Robbie Zadworny 85’, Matthew TOWNLEY 90+1’) at Dunstan Reserve [HT: 1-0]

Brunswick City: 1. Mason INTERLANDI (GK), 2. Seamus CARR, 77. George MCHAILEH, 14. Denis SADIK, 8. Nick TEREZAKIS, 6. Oktay OZTEKIN, 45. George MARKELIS (25. Alex GIANNETTA, 70’,12. Arthur TOZIOS, 78’), 55. Lachlan SMALE, 3. Michael VARKOPOULOS, 99. Dimitri VITHOULKAS, 16. Rikiya KITAMI
(80. Angelo VOUTHAS, 63’)

Unused sub(s): 20. Rojdar ZENGIN (GK), 22. Thanos Costas

Yellow cards: Michael VARKOPOULOS 29’, George MARKELIS 59’

Red cards: Nil

North Geelong Warriors: 1. Daniel ZILIC, 99. Nathan LONG, 16. Michael GRGIC, 35. Matthew TOWNLEY, 17. Nicholas JURCIC (21. Matija DRAGOVIC, 88’), 8. Vito CICHELLO, 23. Michael BOYAR (52. Reha KURUL, 75’), 7. Reardo LUKA (31. Hamish FLAVELL, 80’), 9. Michael ANDERSON, 10. Robert ZADWORNY, 14. Michael PALEKA

Unused subs: 30 Jackson DAVIS, 3. Darren LEWIS

Yellow cards: Reardo LUKA 16’

Red cards: Nil

Image credit: Roberto Filitti