By James Willoughby (@jwilloughby26)

Richmond has climbed to second in the PlayStation 4 NPL 1 East table after Tom Cahill's hat-trick fired them to a 4-1 home win over Dandenong City on Wednesday, in a rescheduled Round 2 fixture.

Rick Mensink's side bounced back from Saturday's defeat at NPL1 West leaders Moreland Zebras - a result that ended their five-game winning streak - in style, with Cahill stealing the show at Kevin Bartlett Reserve.

He scored twice in the first half and although Dandenong's Ashley Cattermole pulled a goal back, Cahill's third made sure of the result.

And there was still time for 17-year-old debutant George Voliotis to come off the bench for Richmond and cap their excellent performance with a 20-yard stunner.

Richmond started quickly and it was little surprise to see them take the lead, with Cahill converting from the penalty spot after he was hauled down by Chris Sanita.

Sanita's foul seemed needless, given Cahill was shooting from a very tight angle, and the captain dusted himself off before scoring to Damir Salcin's right, despite the goalkeeper getting a hand to his 15th-minute effort.

Peter Sawan, Hamlet Armenian, Michael Catalano and Matthew Waters all had chances to extend Richmond's advantage before Cahill doubled his account, chesting down and scoring with his left foot from outside the penalty area.

Dandenong should have responded on the stroke of half-time, but free at the pack post, Dario Matkovic could only volley at Richmond goalkeeper Christian Rossi.

Cattermole's 57th-minute goal gave Dandenong City hope, after he nodded in Matkovic's cross from the right, but Cahill quickly restored Richmond's two-goal buffer when he tapped in after superb work from Josh Knight.

Salcin denied Cahill a fourth with an excellent stop and Matkovic could have set up an exciting finish 15 minutes from time, only for a heavy touch to rob him of a chance to shoot.

Cahill then fired into the side-netting before Voliotis wrapped up the scoring, thrashing a long-range effort into the bottom-left corner in superb fashion, six minutes from time.

Match Details

Richmond 4 (Cahill 15' (pen), 43', 65', Voliotis 84') defeated Dandenong City 1 (Cattermole 57') at Kevin Bartlett Reserve

Richmond: 1. Christian ROSSI, 2. Andrew GOFF, 18. Jordan SEETO (22. Valli CESNIK 85'), 23. Joshua VALADON, 12. Matthew WATERS, 6. Peter SAWAN, 17. Samuel CATHERINE, 19. Michael CATALANO (10. George VOLIOTIS 81'), 8. Joshua KNIGHT, 7. Hamlet ARMENIAN (15. Jay KELLY 78'), 9. Tom CAHILL 

Unused Subs: 20. Chris DAVIS, 21. Daniel PIOVESAN

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Dandenong City: 1. Damir SALCIN, 2. Brad CLARKE, 9. Ashley CATTERMOLE, 8. Dario MATKOVIC, 12. Shaun FILIPOVIC, 18. Chris SANITA, 5. Alex ROJAS (21. Josh CARAUNA 76'), 4. Robbie WYNNE, 7. Keegan ZIADA (14. Chris ANTONIADIS 46'), 15. David DIIORIO (20. Erkan FILIZ 56'), 16. Simon STOREY

Unused Subs: 17. Anthony MIJAC, 42. Anthony CASSET

Yellow Cards: Clarke 75'

Red Cards: Nil