Corio and Bell Park win CoGG Cup matches

Corio and Bell Park win CoGG Cup matches

Roy Hay

Corio beat Surfcoast two-nil and Bell Park came from behind to beat Geelong Rangers two-one in City of Greater Geelong Cup matches at Bell Park Sports Club on Sunday evening.

There was a fierce, blustery wind throughout which made ball control difficult and all four teams had a number of new players who were finding their way into the local game.

Corio had the only goal of the first half in its match with Surfcoast when Andrew Palmieri got on the end of a break and beat keeper Sam Versace though the youngster got a hand to the ball but could not keep it out.

That was in the 24^th minute.

It was not till the last six minutes that Corio settled the match with a second goal when Vedran Stojanovic’s thunderous drive gave replacement keeper Barry Schroeter no chance.

Earlier Surfcoast should have scored at least a couple of goals when Jack Taylor and Billy Bunce had great chances. Bunce missed an open goal with the keeper nowhere and had another one on one which he wasted.

Robbie Noggler was pleased that his Corio side kept playing the ball out from the back even in the difficult conditions.

Jason Pickles said that Surfcoast were trying to bring in some new and younger players to see how they would match up against Corio, which he thought would be the benchmark for their Provisional League season. In the second game Geelong Rangers scored late in the first half.

New English import Andrew Husband came through the midfield and set up James Blackburn for a cool finish.

Rangers will rue a series of missed chances in the first half and Bell Park kept plugging away and were eventually rewarded when Ifeanyi Jaganacho found himself in the clear and kept his head to bring Park level in the 42^nd minute.

Two minutes later Park was ahead as Eric Lawrence, a second half substitute, beat a couple of men on the bye line and then squeezed the ball into the net from a very acute angle.

No wonder his team-mates mobbed him for that effort.

Next Friday Geelong plays Surfcoast and North Geelong takes on the host club, while on Sunday it is Corio versus Bell Park and North Geelong against Geelong Rangers.