By Bryce Clayton

Two goals in the last three minutes of the game has given Richmond a commanding 4-1 victory over bottom-placed Brunswick City.

Two late goals in the final three minutes has seen Richmond claim an expected victory over bottom-placed Brunswick City on Friday night at Kevin Bartlett Reserve.

Goals to Joshua Knight and Hamlet Armenian in the first half followed by late goals to Tom Cahill and Mitchell Beamish capped off a great night for the home side, with the solitary goal for Brunswick credited to Oktay Oztekin.

Richmond came into the game in solid form, winning the last three league games it has played as well as a Dockerty Cup Round 6 win during the week.

Sitting in seventh place on the table coming into the game, a win would see a temporary jump into fourth position for the home side.

Brunswick was left with less hope coming into the game, with just one win for the season from the 10 rounds so far.

Sitting four points adrift from 13th spot on the bottom of the table, it was an important game in working towards avoiding the wooden spoon.

The first notable event in the match was an early yellow card to Brunswick’s Nick Terezakis in the fifth minute for a clumsy challenge.

It was the visitors who started well, with an early attacking move seeing the ball ending up in the back of the net.

A poor back pass found Oztekin in space before he outpaced the Richmond defenders and beat Richmond ‘keeper Edward Chadwick, creeping a shot just inside the left-hand post to give the visitors an unlikely lead in the seventh minute.

The momentum changed almost instantaneously after the first goal, with a shot from Tim Purcell in the 10th minute blocked by some desperate defending on the edge of the penalty area.

It was Cahill with the next chance just two minutes later, but his decent effort could only fly just centimetres over the bar from a tight angle.

Richmond found itself with all the possession and opportunities at this stage but just wasn’t able to capitalise, with Armenian finding himself clear but only managing to direct a header just over the crossbar in the 15th minute.

The next 15 minutes saw Richmond continue to dominate, with a host of half-chances coming about but no clear-cut opportunities.

Liam Flynn expressed his frustration in the 30th minute, firing a shot well over the bar from more than 25 yards out as Richmond couldn’t seem to find an opportunity.

Cahill found himself in behind again but from yet another tight angle could only find the side-netting from the left-hand side.

Richmond’s pressure finally paid off when a defensive scramble saw the ball deflect off the feet of Knight and into the back of the net, catching Brunswick ‘keeper Mason Interlandi off-guard and finding the bottom right-hand corner in the 35th minute.

The momentum continued with the home team, as Ryan Oppermann cut inside from the left and fired his shot wide from the edge of the box.

Richmond took the lead just three minutes after equalising when Purcell’s cross was parried by Interlandi and found the feet of Armenian, who slotted the ball home from close range in the 38th minute.

Halftime arrived and the home side had an unconvincing 2-1 lead over a resilient Brunswick side.

Richmond continued its dominance at the start of the second half, with Purcell claiming the first shot of the second period in the 54th minute with a shot from the middle of the box before Oppermann missed to the left-hand side from outside the box.

A decent opportunity to Richmond saw some desperate goalkeeping by Interlandi, who headed the ball clear from a dangerous opportunity in the 61st minute.

By the 74th minute, the game began to lower in pace as both teams began to tire, and a clumsy challenge saw Knight enter the referee’s notebook with a yellow card.

Brunswick used its third and final substitution, unusually taking off ‘keeper Mason Interlandi and putting on substitute ‘keeper Rojdar Zengin for the final 11 minutes, assumedly as a tactical change with no apparent injury to Interlandi.

With the game moving along at a slow pace, some excitement finally arose with Richmond dominating possession with approximately 70 per cent of possession overall.

Cahill found some space for himself in the 87th minute and slotted a cool finish into the bottom left-hand corner from inside the box to well and truly put the game beyond doubt.

As if Cahill’s finish wasn’t enough, Beamish put the final touches on a great game of football in the 90th minute, with an excellent finish from the edge of the box finding the top left-hand corner to show the difference in class between the two sides.

Brunswick coach Joe De Martino paid credit to a very strong Richmond side.

“I think they did a fabulous job to keep it together and come back from 1-0 down,” De Martino said.

“They kept their cool, they kept their concentration right up ‘til the very end.”

De Martino also commented on his team’s performance.

“There’s a lot of work that’s got to be done.

“It’s quite clear that Brunswick City’s got its work cut out and we’ve just got to go back and look at it.”

Richmond coach Rick Mensink commented on his team’s tough schedule and another win on the back of a midweek cup clash.

“After a cup game on Wednesday, backing up on a Friday was always a difficult prospect for us” Mensink said.

“Very disappointed to cop an early goal, but after that we played with purpose and energy.

“Our stats show about a 70 per cent possession ratio which is where we’re aiming.

“We dominated the game and deserved to win.”

Richmond now faces ninth-placed North Geelong Warriors away next weekend, while Brunswick takes on 13th-placed FC Bendigo away in a bottom-of-the-table clash.

MATCH DETAILS

Richmond 4 (Knight 35’, Armenian 38’, Cahill 87’, Beamish 90’) defeated Brunswick City SC 1 (Oztekin 7’) at Kevin Bartlett Reserve

Richmond: Edward CHADWICK, Andrew GOFF (Andrew MILBORROW 69’), Rylan SADLER, Vincent BONTEMPS, Liam FLYNN, Brendan RICHARDSON, Joshua KNIGHT, Tim PURCELL (Mitchell BEAMISH 75’), Ryan OPPERMANN (Jason RICCIUTI 80’), Hamlet ARMENIAN, Tom CAHILL

Unused Subs: Tom BANFIELD, George TSIAKALAKIS

Yellow Cards: Joshua KNIGHT 73’

Red Cards: Nil

Brunswick City: Mason INTERLANDI (Rojdar ZENGIN 79’), Alex GIANNETA (Denis SADIK 46’), Admir KOLAKOVIC, George MARKELIS (Fatih TURER 62’), George MCHAILEH, Oktay OZTEKIN, Lachlan SMALE, Nick TEREZAKIS, Dimitri VITHOULKAS, Rob SCHIATONE, Michael VARKOPOLOUS

Unused Subs: Costas THANOS

Yellow Cards: Nick TEREZAKIS 5’, Dimitri VITHOULKAS 54’

Red Cards: Nil