Geelong tops Geelong Community Cup after two rounds
Roy Hay
(Click on the pics below to enlarge them)
The second round of matches in the Geelong Community Cup were played on Friday 2 February resulting in a two-one win for host club Geelong against Corio, while Bell Park and Golden Plains shared the points in a one-all draw.
Geelong (in red) defend against Corio
The Geelong versus Corio match was played at great speed and with lots of quality from both sides. Matt Townley and Chris Balaburova locked up at the back for Geelong, while Steve Luczo and Ronnie Clayson did the same for Corio. In front of them the ball flew from end to end mostly through creative play rather than long balls. There were no goals in the first half though Geelong probably had more shots and it was only five minutes after the break when they took the lead. For once it was a long ball forward that bounced between the keeper and the onrushing Daniel Kuczinski, who nodded it over Rick Apostalakis and then into the empty net. Three minutes later Josh Talev should have added to the lead but just missed to the left of the posts. In the 49th minute Talev made amends by finishing from close range after another effort by Kuczinski. Corio got back into the game with a thunderous volley by Habib Shakauri five minutes later, but Geelong should have added to its lead with one effort which came back off the post and a Talev free kick which just curled wide.
Mijo Marinovic wins the ball in midfield for Bell Park
Bell Park was expected to add to the pain Golden Plains experienced on opening night, but despite having more of the play it only had a single goal to show for its efforts in the first half. That came courtesy of a neatly struck free kick by Nathan Munoz. Mijo Marinovic tried to repeat that from a similar position but missed the goal. Early in the second half Nick van Rooy had a couple of chances to bring Golden Plains level but Alex Kitanovski saved both. Tony Pirrottina was clean through for Park, even getting behind the keeper but then contrived to hit the post. Bell Park was still making more opportunities but the longer it went without scoring the more Golden Plains self-belief grew and a good cross from the right was headed home for the equaliser by Anthony Tavic. There were still ten minutes left for play but neither side could break the deadlock.
On Wednesday 7 February, Barwon plays Bell Park at 6.30 pm, followed by Corio against Geelong Rangers at 8 pm. This will be Rangers first match in this season’s competition.
Captions for pics
Geelong defends against Corio in the Geelong Community Cup.
Mijo Marinovic of Bell Park wins the ball in midfield.