Following a week off, Melbourne City’s NPL side will return to action this Sunday when they make the trip West to take on North Geelong Warriors at Elcho Park in Lara.
With NPL sides entering the FFA Cup for the first time last weekend, City – whose A-League side will enter the competition in the Round of 32 and are thusly prevented from entering their NPL side in the competition – were forced to spend a week on the sidelines.
The week’s break arrived off the back of two straight victories for Head Coach Rado Vidosic’s side; City recording a 3-0 round eight victory over Manningham City Blues and following that up with a commanding 2-0 win over top-of-the-NPL2 Eastern Conference Eastern Lions in round nine.
City took the lead after just a single minute in that contest against the Lions, Mathew Collier inadvertently turning the ball into his own net after Jordy Bos stabbed a low cross across the face of goal in the direction of Stefan Colakovski.
Never truly challenged throughout the match, Yaya Dukuly made it 2-0 in the second half after the youngster fired an effort into an open goal after some sweet combination play from Colakovski and Josh Cavallo opened up the Lions’ defence.
The two-game winning streak, which came after a three-game losing streak, has lifted City into the fifth position on the NPL2 Eastern Conference Table heading into round ten and just three points back of the top-of-the-table Lions.
Possessing a +3 goal difference that is good for third best in the conference, a solid three points against the Warriors on Saturday could, if other results in the NPL2 Cross-conference go their way, therefore see City go top of the table following this weekend.
The Warriors – for their part – will enter the weekend’s contest coming off a successful hit out in the FFA Cup’s fourth preliminary round: eliminating State League One side Richmond SC 1-0 at Elcho Park thanks to a Jamie Noggler strike.
The Warriors head into Saturday in the fourth position on the NPL2 Western Conference table with 16 points, four back of top-of-the-table Werribee City FC.
The Warriors have only lost once – 1-0 loss against Melbourne Victory’s NPL side in round eight – all season, finding themselves looking up at the top three in the NPL2 West thanks to a predilection for drawing: recording four in the season’s first nine rounds.
The boys from Geelong will be keen to avoid a repeat of the last meeting between themselves and City, when strikes from Yusuf Ahmed (x3), Connor Metcalfe, Mitch Graham and Denis Genreau propelled City to a 6-1 win over the Warriors at La Trobe University.
The meeting between the senior sides of City and the Warriors is set to kick-off at 3 pm this Saturday at Elcho Park, Lara. The U20s sides of the two clubs will meet in the traditional curtain-raiser slot at 12:30.
Match Details:
NPL Victoria – NPL2 Round Ten
Saturday, 27 April 2019
North Geelong Warriors FC v Melbourne City FC
Venue: Elcho Park, Lara, Victoria
Kick-off: U20s – 12:30 pm | Seniors 3:00 pm
