Warriors cry foul after loss

NORTH Geelong Warriors’ unbeaten run is over after falling to the Moreland Zebras 1-0 on Saturday.

In a slow-paced, defensive tussle, the Zebras restricted the Warriors’ movement before a goal by substitute Beau Summers in the 76th minute proved the difference in the match. A dejected Warriors coach Luciano Trani postmatch said a contentious foul not called by the referee opened his side up on the rebound, leading to the eventual decider in the match.

“I think there was a foul just before that (the goal), the referee allowed it to play on, so we have got to accept that,” Trani said.

“It had made us disjointed, so by the time the ball had come across we didn’t have enough numbers to cover.”

In what was a frustrating day for the Warriors, Trani believed his side struggled to adjust to the Zebras’ slow tempo.

“We are going to encounter some teams that aren’t going to be as aggressive,” he said.

“There were a lot of stoppages and for us it needs to be more of an up-tempo type of game.

“The game went into a little bit of a lull and in some moments we just weren’t ready.

“We have just got to continue on knowing we’ve done the hard part in creating (chances) and our movement under a strong opposition defensively.”

The Warriors showed glimpses of their early season form throughout the match, with Darius Madison again proving an attacking threat.

Super sub Thomas Hidic nearly scored his third goal of the season in the final moments of the match after a sharp Madison cross met a surging Hidic body, but the ball scraped the top netting of the goal, a symbol of the Warriors’ day.

The heightened expectations of the Warriors made the loss harder to take, according to Trani, however he will take a lot of positives out of the match – the form of goalkeep- er Hamish Flavell being one of them.

“I think because the expectations of winning, everyone now thinks it’s going to happen for us week-in, week-out, but it’s just not going to happen, we are going to have our challenges,” he said

“He (Hamish) made some great saves down low to his right where there were longrange shots, it was great he was able to deal with that.”