North Geelong to face Melbourne City in friendly

by Mark Gojszyk 0

North Geelong Warriors will face off against Melbourne City in a friendly at JL Murphy reserve on Friday night.

It will be the A-League side’s first clash against NPL Victoria opposition in the lead up to the 2015/16 season.

Kick-off is set for 7.30pm, with entry open and free to the public.

While the match acts as a pre-season warm up for City, 12th placed North Geelong will be using it to keep fit while waiting for the NPL 1 home and away season to conclude.

They still have to face the winner of a play-off between the second placed clubs from the East and West conferences in order to secure top-flight survival for the 2016 season.

However, with a large gap between the conclusions of the NPL and NPL 1 season, the Warriors face up to a month between competitive fixtures.

North Geelong will face the winner of a fixture between Ballarat Red Devils or Moreland Zebras from the West, and Melbourne Victory or Richmond SC from the East, with Bulleen Lions currently the only team securing automatic promotion from NPL 1.

JL Murphy Reserve was agreed upon as a mid-way point for both sides, with tenants Port Melbourne Sharks now in their off-season after not qualifying for NPL finals.

Melbourne City now await this week’s FFA Cup fixtures before finding out their quarter-final opponents.

North Geelong are also set to play at least one more friendly before the survival play-off.