Green Gully gives North Geelong second win of the season as bogey continues
By Tonci Prusac (@TonciPrusac)
North Geelong Warriors have recorded only their second win of the season, overcoming Green Gully in a hard fought yet thoroughly absorbing battle at Elcho Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors’ only other victory this year was against a helpless Gully in Round 3.
Unlike that particular fixture, which saw the Warriors annihilate Gully 6-1, the only goal of today’s scrappy clash came in the 11th minute, courtesy of a Reardo Luka wonder strike.
Luka’s goal of the season contender saw the bustling midfielder turning on a sixpence just inside the edge of the penalty box, and eloquently placing the ball past a diving Rani Dowisha in the Gully goal.
Although Luka’s goal was one of the few clear cut chance both sides had to score in the opening stanza, late in the half North striker Yusuf Yusuf was presented with two gilt-edged opportunities to double the lead, within a minute of each other, but he managed to fluff both of them.
In the 52nd minute, the unlucky Yusuf should have made it 2-0 but his strike smashed against the upright and was cleared away to safety.
Just minutes later, up the other end, substitute Luc Jeggo did exactly the same for Gully, but the post ensured the score remained locked at 1-0 to the home side.
The frenetic final half hour of the contest had it all; numerous goal scoring chances by both sides which was followed by a series of desperate goal mouth clearances, end-to-end action that had the decent-sized crowd captivated until the final second.
The game also intensified as the referee dished out a total of five yellow cards - including a second yellow and subsequent red card to Gully’s Daniel Jones - in the dying stages of the match.
The only thing it lacked was another goal as the main match official blew his whistle to bring down the curtains on an enthralling duel at Elcho Park.
Match Details:
North Geelong 1 (Luka 11’) defeated Green Gully 0 at Elcho Park
North Geelong: 1 Daniel ZILIC, 16 Michael GRGIC, 17 Nicholas JURCIC, 3 Matt TOWNLEY, 2 Josh PUGH, 4 Nikola JURKOVIC (19 Milan SEKULIC 84’), 7 Reardo LUKA, 8 Vito CICHELLO, 10 Yusuf YUSUF (18 Stipe TRBUHOVIC 79’), 9 Ridvan SAGLAM (23 Michael ANDERSON 63’), Gareth RICHARDS.
Subs not used: 5 Anthony BANOVAC, 31 Hamish FLAVELL
Yellow Cards: Luka 38', Jurkovic 62’, Richards 88’
Red Cards: None
Green Gully: 23 Rani DOWISHA, 4 Daniel JONES, 5 Rodrigo VARGAS, 6 Jem BERKANT (18 Luc JEGGO 39'), 9 Evan CHRISTOUDOLOU, 10 Rinor MURIQI, 11 Matthew BREEZE, 14 Amadu KOROMA (8 Tomas MURPHY 74’), 17 Alun BLOMGART (16 Simon TOLLI 63’), 20 Hakeem ALORAIBI, 38 Liam BOLAND
Subs not used: 1 Sebastian MATTEI, 2 Matthew REID.
Yellow Cards: M. Breeze 37', Jones 63’, Murphy, 76’, Jeggo 88’
Red Cards: Jones 91’
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