John Didulica
25Feb08
GEELONG stormed into the Century 21 Cup semi-finals with a rousing 3-0 demolition of the North Geelong Warriors at the Bell Park Sports Centre last night.
Superb defending, physical commitment and some sumptuous finishing allowed Geelong to kill off the usual inevitability of a Warriors appearance in the local showpiece in a fortnight's time.
In the later match, host club Bell Park confirmed its Cup resurrection with a 2-1 win over Surf Coast.
Next weekend, Geelong will take its winning form into a semi-final against the undefeated Geelong Rangers, while Bell Park hosts surprise packet Hoppers Crossing for a right to play in the March 9 cup final.
The recriminations for the Warriors, who now miss the semi-finals, will no doubt continue long into the week.
In front of another excellent crowd, a youthful Geelong plunged the first sword into the Warriors' previous invulnerability before five minutes had even ticked over. Jasko Ikanovic dispossessed Adrian Pugaric before shaping a strike from distance past Lyndon Malesic.
Going into the match with only three players from last year's playing roster, Bobby Stojcevski's Geelong line-up showed few signs of unfamiliarity, its collective closing down and mutual support a feature of the opening half.
Warrior midfielder Grgo Saric came the closest to clawing his side back into the match when a long-range strike drifted over Bobby Gjorsevski in the Geelong goal, but only managed to strike the upright and rebound to safety.
Having spent time repelling a brief onslaught of Warriors set-pieces, on the stroke of half-time Geelong manufactured the goal that effectively ended the match as a contest.
Some defensive uncertainty from the Warriors caused the ball to bobble around the penalty area before impressive debutant Gorosito announced his decisive arrival to slam home a fine volley into the roof of the net.
The aid of a second-half wind added little steel to the Warriors' sails, with Geelong's defensive trio rarely putting a foot wrong while midfielders Zoran Ristevski and Kwabee Otuo were equally adept at controlling the match tempo. Geelong completed the rout in the final minutes with a nice brother-to-brother combination; Daniel Longo driving in a well directed and weighted free-kick to the point of the six-yard box which brother Andrew was happy to head home.
The Warriors came close to a late consolation through Chris Satiety, Imago Triplicate and Nathan Hopper but superb goalkeeping from Gjorsevski underlined Geelong's commitment to keeping a clean sheet.
25Feb08
GEELONG stormed into the Century 21 Cup semi-finals with a rousing 3-0 demolition of the North Geelong Warriors at the Bell Park Sports Centre last night.
Superb defending, physical commitment and some sumptuous finishing allowed Geelong to kill off the usual inevitability of a Warriors appearance in the local showpiece in a fortnight's time.
In the later match, host club Bell Park confirmed its Cup resurrection with a 2-1 win over Surf Coast.
Next weekend, Geelong will take its winning form into a semi-final against the undefeated Geelong Rangers, while Bell Park hosts surprise packet Hoppers Crossing for a right to play in the March 9 cup final.
The recriminations for the Warriors, who now miss the semi-finals, will no doubt continue long into the week.
In front of another excellent crowd, a youthful Geelong plunged the first sword into the Warriors' previous invulnerability before five minutes had even ticked over. Jasko Ikanovic dispossessed Adrian Pugaric before shaping a strike from distance past Lyndon Malesic.
Going into the match with only three players from last year's playing roster, Bobby Stojcevski's Geelong line-up showed few signs of unfamiliarity, its collective closing down and mutual support a feature of the opening half.
Warrior midfielder Grgo Saric came the closest to clawing his side back into the match when a long-range strike drifted over Bobby Gjorsevski in the Geelong goal, but only managed to strike the upright and rebound to safety.
Having spent time repelling a brief onslaught of Warriors set-pieces, on the stroke of half-time Geelong manufactured the goal that effectively ended the match as a contest.
Some defensive uncertainty from the Warriors caused the ball to bobble around the penalty area before impressive debutant Gorosito announced his decisive arrival to slam home a fine volley into the roof of the net.
The aid of a second-half wind added little steel to the Warriors' sails, with Geelong's defensive trio rarely putting a foot wrong while midfielders Zoran Ristevski and Kwabee Otuo were equally adept at controlling the match tempo. Geelong completed the rout in the final minutes with a nice brother-to-brother combination; Daniel Longo driving in a well directed and weighted free-kick to the point of the six-yard box which brother Andrew was happy to head home.
The Warriors came close to a late consolation through Chris Satiety, Imago Triplicate and Nathan Hopper but superb goalkeeping from Gjorsevski underlined Geelong's commitment to keeping a clean sheet.
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