North Geelong coach Micky Colina feels his side did well to grind out a 0-0 result and come away with a point after facing off against Moreland Zebras on Saturday afternoon.
The stalemate puts the Warriors atop the NPL2 West standings with 25 points from 12 games with only a three-point gap separating them from second-placed Zebras, as well as this week’s opponents Ballarat Red Devils.
That solitary point could prove crucial for North Geelong in what is a tight NPL2 West race – only one point separates second placed Moreland Zebras (22 points) and sixth placed St Albans Saints (21 points) at this point in the season.
Although it wasn’t the victory the Warriors hoped for, Colina was content to walk away from CB Smith Reserve with a clean sheet against a dangerous Moreland outfit.
The North Geelong coach was happy with his team’s performance in the face of personnel issues, saying it was great to see them keep a disciplined shape and step up to put in an “honest shift”.
“In the end, a clean sheet is always nice against Moreland Zebras who are a very good side,” Colina said.
“[Moreland Zebras] were a form side at the start of the year, they’ve gone through a bit of a patch now but I’m sure that they’ll come back – so it’s always nice [to win] away from home against a side like that considering what we’ve gone through this week,” he added.
Colina also spoke highly of the youngsters who stepped into the squad to fill the gaps and get some senior football experience under their belts, which could prove beneficial during the business end of the season if the Warriors lose players to injury and suspension.
With Michael Anderson and Matthew Thorne out before kick-off and American import Kene Eze subbed off mid-game – North Geelong was without a trio of attackers responsible for 16 goals.
“Kene [Eze] was always a question mark at best to start today – we knew that he was never going to put in a 90-minute shift to be honest,” said Colina.
“At the 20-minute mark we knew [Kene Eze] was way below what we knew he could do, he wasn’t moving away freely enough and we just didn’t want to take any risks, we had to take him off.”
Already facing squad issues on the attacking front, goalkeeping was also an area of focus for the Warriors with Ante Kozul rushed into the side to make his North Geelong debut just days after joining from St Albans.
“Ante Kozul, I think he’s underdone fitness-wise but he’s got a bit of experience from a game perspective out of the young boys on the bench and I figured okay, we’ll throw him in the deep end a bit.
“I think he was struggling fitness-wise in the end but he showed some good things from a technical point of view what he can bring to the side and it was nice to get him involved.”
After suffering relegation last season, Colina is leading a North Geelong resurgence as the Warriors chase promotion back into the NPL competition.
North Geelong will face another difficult test this weekend against Ballarat as they aim for promotion but the Warriors coach insists his side will focus on the task ahead rather than getting carried away by talk of promotion.
“We’ll just keep doing what we do week by week and take one game at a time and that’s all there is to it at the end of the day … what that brings on at the end, we’ll deal with it,” Colina said.
Photo: Ivan Dugandzic