By Damir Kulas

Richmond have returned to the top flight of Victorian football after an emphatic 5-0 away victory over the Springvale White Eagles on Saturday afternoon.

The victory saw Rick Mensick’s side leapfrog Melbourne Victory for the automatic promotion placing after their 1-0 defeat to Box Hill United.

The game was not the spectacle that many may have hoped for, with the youthful home side offering little resistance to the visitors who were determined to pick up the three points from the offset.

Tom Cahill and Alex Caniglia went close early on with both firing over the bar when presented with good opportunities to open the deadlock.

However Richmond would not have to wait long to open the scoring when the latter opened the scoring after neatly slotting in after Michael Catalano’s fine through ball.

One quickly became two as experienced campaigner Hamlet Armenian finished off at the back post with the White Eagles defence at sixes and sevenths unable to prevent the Richmond juggernaut.

Minutes later a third was added when Tom Cahill’s ball across the box was met by Samuel Catherine as the former Box Hill midfielder calmly tapped home.

Any chance of an unlikely comeback from the home side was killed off on the hour mark when Peter Sawan launched a half volley which got the better of White Eagles goalkeeper Nikola Popetrov and crept into the bottom corner of the net.

Substitute Josh Knight got a fifth soon after as he made hard work of Armenian cutback as he saw his initial shot go straight at Popetrov before slotting in the rebound from close range.

Club captain Cahill was desperate to get himself on the scoresheet but failed to find the target when granted with an opportunity to extend his side’s lead.

That proved to be trivial however as jubilant scenes followed the final whistle as news reached that Victory had conceded first place on the ladder with that loss and thus handed Richmond top place on the ladder which guarantees automatic promotion.

That achievement sees Mensick’s side return to the top-flight after a two year hiatus following the club’s relegation in 2013.

MATCH DETAILS

Springvale White Eagles 0 lost to Richmond 5 (Caniglia 14, Armenian 19, Catherine 23, Sawan 60, Knight 64) at White Eagles Stadium

Springvale White Eagles:1. Nikola Popetrov, 2. Jordan Ballerini, 3. Shahab Fayazi, 6. Slavisa Saric, 7. Keletso Mthembu, 14. Kristian Sekulovski, 15. Milan Jovanovic, 16. Ryan Babare, 18. Trent Hansen, 22. Anthony Selemidis, 33. Damjan Dragisic

Subs: Dushan Atanasovski, Edmon Benjamin

Richmond SC: 1. Christian Rossi (GK), 6. Peter Sawan, 7. Hamlet Armenian, 9. Tom Cahill, 10. Alex Caniglia, 11. Liam Flynn, 12. Matthew Waters, 17. Samuel Catherine, 18. Jordan Seeto, 19. Michael Catalano, 23. Josh Valadon

Subs: 2. Andrew Goff, 3. Anthony Trajkoski, 8. Josh Knight, 15. Jay Kelly, 20. Chris Davis (GK)