The Geelong U/17’s suffered a shock 3-2 defeat at the hands of an impressive Bell Park with several new faces not seen in the round 2 clash. At the Bell Park Sports Club, a sluggish Geelong went 1-0 down within 7 minutes when keeper Rhett Joy misjudged a cross/shot to float into a bare net. Continuing their attacking theme, Bell Park went up 2-0 inside the first 10 minutes when Geelong conceded a corner. After some poor marking Bell Park’s forward jumped clear for an uncontested header and finished neatly.

Geelong finally got their act together mid-way through the first half when midfielders Billy Fanraatree and Shiva Kanapathy exchanged passes playing in Jimmy Vo who blasted a shot on goal only to be deflected out by the keeper. Dylan Stojanovski’s resulting corner kick fell to Shiva Kanapathy whose volley flew hard into the bottom corner leaving the keeper no chance. Bell Park responded well to the mounting pressure from the Geelong boys but a lack of discipline and shape gifted Bell Park their third after yet another defensive error on the 40 minute mark.

A minute before the break Billy won the ball with a tenacious tackle and played a nice pass to Jordan Rendevski only to play an even better pass through to Jimmy Vo who thumped home the volley. A fired up Geelong went in at half time confident they could overcome the deficit.

Geelong came out strongly after the break creating a number of chances with Jordan, Hollywood, Shiva, Billy, Tuan and both Stefan’s all coming close to scoring. In the dying minutes, a free kick just outside the box saw Jimmy Vo’s shot narrowly sail over the crossbar after a Bell Park defender laid a crude tackle on Billy.  But the best chance fell to captain Dylan Stojanovski whose powerful left-foot drive rattled the crossbar. A disappointed Geelong were left to reflect on missed opportunities and their first loss of the season.

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