By Andrew Bishara (@_andrewbishara)

North Geelong Warriors kept its promotion charge on course with a 3-0 win over a nine-man Avondale Heights, in a top-of-table clash on Saturday.

In an explosive game, ten cards were dished out, including two reds, as the match threaten to boil over at Avondale Heights Reserve.

But what mattered most were the goals by Mark Paleka, Robbie Zadworny and Juso Julardzlia, which saw the visitors claim the points and close the gap to eight points at the top of the table.

The Warriors’ win also ended Avondale Heights’ three-year unbeaten streak at home, which started against Cairnlea in June 2011.

It only took six minutes for the Warriors to open their account, when a long, Rory Delap-like throw by Julardzija into the box was headed into the back of the net by Paleka.

The following 15 minutes was all Avondale as Andrew Le Page saw his free kick just go over the goals and Jason Principato had his shot saved by Warriors ‘keeper Daniel Zilic.

Then the decisive moment came when Avondale’s Dean Campelj lunged in with a wild tackle on Zadworny.

Immediately the game exploded as both teams engaged in a huge scuffle as the referee looked to calm things down.

When the pack finally cooled down, Campelj was shown a straight red and duly left the pitch.

The visitors could have doubled their lead from the resulting free kick, when the ball into the box ricocheted off a player’s head and forced Avondale ‘keeper John Scollo to tip it over the bar.

Avondale slowly regain its composure as the contest went on, but was dealt a hammer blow when a lovely long ball over the defence by Nicolas Jurcic saw Zadworny break into space.

The winger calmly dinked the ball over Scollo, despite the ‘keeper getting his fingertips to it.

When the second half kicked off, it was a completely different Avondale team which created a host of chances.

First, Bosin Georgevski missed a golden chance when his header went over an open goal after Zilic ran out to clear the ball but left it wide open.

Then it was Michele Crazia’s turn to see his header saved by Zilic, before Le Page tried his luck but missed his shot.

Then once again for the hosts, it blew up in their face when Oleksiy Kharapko was given his marching orders after head-butting a Warriors defender in a bid to get the ball for a free kick.

The game was effectively killed off minutes later when a Zadworny-led counter-attack saw the winger run into the box before cutting it back to Julardzija.

With an open goal, the striker duly buried the ball into the net.

With the game over, North Geelong grew in confidence and had several chances to extend its lead, but couldn’t convert them.

Warriors coach Micky Colina called his team’s win a “courageous” performance.

“I think we were great and courageous today,” Colina said.

“It was a good, disciplined performance. (We) stuck to the game plan with a disciplined defensive display, which is important.

“They’re [Avondale Heights] a strong, physical side, (and) we stood up too and at the end of the day, that’s [win] our reward.”

The Avondale Heights camp declined to comment.

Both sides will play on Saturday afternoon next week, with North Geelong hosting Whittlesea Ranges and Avondale Heights visiting Dandenong City.

MATCH DETAILS

AVONDALE HEIGHTS 0 lost to NORTH GEELONG WARRIORS 3 (Paleka 6’, Zadworny 40’, Julardzija 67’) at Avondale Heights Reserve [HT: 0-2]

Avondale Heights: 20. John SCOLLO (GK), 6. Anthony STRANO, 7. Andrew LE PAGE (27. Julien CANNIZZARO 76’), 8. Bosin GEORGEVSKI (14. Daniel SLOVACEK 59’), 10. Jason PRINCIPATO (9. Anthony FALLONE 72’), 15. Zoran PAJIC, 11. Arturo YMERI, 34. Oleksiy KHRAPKO, 33. Dean CAMPELJ, 24. Resit CULCULOGLU, 31. Michele CRAZIA

Unused Subs: 1. Anthony SARIC, 5. Andrew SACHETTA

Yellow cards: PRINCIPATO 17’, STRANO 27’, LE PAGE 37’, PAJIC 76’, FALLONE 80’

Red cards: CAMPELJ 27’, KHRAPKO 62’

North Geelong Warriors: 1 Daniel ZILIC (GK), 2 Darren LEWIS, 16 Michael GRGIC, 17. Nicholas JURCIC, 99 Nathan LONG, 7 Reardo LUKA, 8 Vito CICHELLO, 14 Mark PALEKA (6. Stipe TRBUHOVIC 88’), 9 Michael ANDERSON, 77 Juso JULARDZIJA, 10 Robert ZADWORNY (19. Matija DRAGOVIC 85’).

Unused Subs: 4 Nikola JURKOVIC, 3. Anthony BANOVAC, 21. Michael RADOJEVIC, 31. Joel GOWNE

Yellow cards: GRGIC 22’, ZADWORNY 31’, CICHELLO 35’

Red cards: None