North Geelong win City of Greater Geelong Cup in a landslide
Roy Hay
(Note: click and double click on photographs below to enlarge them).
North Geelong demolished Corio by eight goals to one in the final of the City of Greater Geelong Cup at Bell Park Sports Club last Sunday night.
When the teams met at an earlier stage in the tournament, North just got home by three goals to two with a last minute winner from Nathan Long.
In the final however, the class of the Division One State League team overwhelmed their Provisional League opponent.
Michael Anderson had a huge impact on the game.
He was booked for a challenge on Corio keeper Alec Kitanovski in the seventh minute, but four minutes later he fired in a grounder, which took a wicked bounce in front of Kitanovski and went into the net via his hand and the inside of the post.
North Geelong’s Michael Anderson attacks Corio’s Dusko Novakovic (left) and Drew Corry. Photo: Roy Hay.
Two minutes later Anderson had his second as he was in space and able to lob the ball over the stranded keeper.
Alan Paleka came up for a corner kick which was not cleared and he forced the ball over the line to give North a three-nil break and the result effectively decided.
Corio did have the ball in the net soon after but the offside flag cut short their celebration.
It remained at three-nil to North, till just after the hour mark, when Anderson cut loose and completed a stunning hat-trick inside five minutes.
Robbie Zadworny intercepted an attempt by Corio to play out from the back and Anderson finished it off, then the latter broke through for a solo goal and finally he beat the keeper in a race for a loose ball.
Both sides were making a string of substitutions and Corio took advantage when Mijo Marinovic scored from a cross by Dusko Novakovic.
Zadworny then broke away for another solo goal and the tally was completed by Callum Ferguson in 82nd minute.
This was the largest winning margin in the 31-year history of the Geelong pre-season Cup and equaled the highest aggregate score in a final.
Robbie Zadworny won the best and fairest award, Nathan Long of North Geelong was top scorer and North also won the fair play trophy.
Referee of the tournament was Oleg Grygorian the attendance at the tournament was the highest it has been for several seasons, showing that there is lots of life in this competition.
In the match for third place, Geelong Rangers came back from a goal down to beat host club, Bell Park, by two goals to one.
Ifeayani Iheanacho finished off an excellent Bell Park attack down the left in the 35th minute.
Park’s young and lightweight attack had foundered on the Rangers’ defence to that point, but this lifted their confidence and for a while they threatened to add to their lead.
Their best chance came in the 55th minute when Anthony Sirocuk got to the byeline and cut the ball back for Chris Newman who fired the ball just wide from right in front of goal.
Referee Mick Opperman spotted a bit of shirt tugging in the Bell Park penalty area in 62 minutes and James Blackburn buried the penalty which resulted.
James Blackburn of Geelong Rangers runs away from Ifeayani Iheanacho, Ibi Matjara (5) and Mark Gstalter (20) of Bell Park. Photo: Roy Hay.
That lifted Rangers and three minutes later Angelo di Mauro could only parry a Troy Hardy shot and Blackburn followed up for his second and the winning goal.
Park fought hard to the end, but Rangers deserved third place overall.
North Geelong celebrate with the City of Greater Geelong Cup. Photo: Roy Hay.
North Geelong celebrate with the City of Greater Geelong Cup. Photo: Roy Hay.
North Geelong’s Michael Anderson attacks Corio’s Dusko Novakovic (left) and Drew Corry. Photo: Roy Hay.
James Blackburn of Geelong Rangers runs away from Ifeayani Iheanacho, Ibi Matjara (5) and Mark Gstalter (20) of Bell Park. Photo: Roy Hay