North Geelong and Corio on track for final

North and Corio on track for final

Roy Hay

North Geelong and Corio will meet next Friday night at 6 pm in a dress rehearsal for the grand final of the City of Greater Geelong Cup at Bell Park Sports Club.

North has won all its games racking up 12 goals and conceding only one, while Corio also has a one hundred per cent record after three games and has not lost a goal.

Last Friday North thumped Surfcoast by four goals to nil, with a double by Nathan Long and one each from Fikret Husanovic and Michael Anderson.

Geelong scraped home by two goals to one against Bell Park. Steven Nikolovski put Geelong in front in 22 minutes, but seven minutes later Chris Newman brought Park level.

There were only eight minutes left when Daniel Wilson got Geelong’s winner.

On Sunday in the early game Surfcoast and Geelong Rangers played out a scoreless draw.

Billy Bunce came closest for Surfcoast in the first half, shooting wide after a good run down the middle, while Stuart Begg connected well with a corner kick won by Darren McCallum for Rangers, but the defender’s effort finished up on the roof of the net.

The second half remained very even, with James Blackburn’s goalbound effort for Rangers being diverted for a fruitless corner kick.

Surfcoast’s youngsters competed strongly across the pitch, but could not force a breakthrough.

Corio was too good for Geelong, winning by two-nil, though its opening goal had a touch of fortune about it.

Elton Savice sprinted away down the left but his cross-shot seemed to be easy pickings for Romeo Purlija in the Geelong goal.

However, the ball eluded the keeper’s grasp and crossed the line before he could retrieve it.

Michael Ilioski intercepted a Corio throw-in and forced a finger-tip save by Alec Kitanovski in the Corio goal.

Ilioski should have made more of a good break down the centre for Geelong but shot wide.

Corio made the points secure in 57 minutes when Mijo Marinovic set out after a long clearance from just inside his own half and sprinted away from his pursuers, finishing with a fine shot into the corner of the goal.

Corio coach Robbie Noggler was pleased with the way his team played out from the back and says they are gradually gaining in confidence in the game plan.

He has some first team players to come back and looks forward with confidence to a couple of matches with North Geelong to come.

League ladder

Team                               P     W        D         L          F          A          Pts       G D

North Geelong                4     4          0          0          12       1          12       11

Corio                               3     3          0          0          5          0          9          5

Geelong                           4     1          1          2          3          8          4          -5

Bell Park                         4     1          0          3          3          6          3          -3

Surfcoast                        4     0          2          2          1          7          2          -6

Geelong Rangers            3     0          1          2          2          4          1          -2