By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

Richmond has recorded arguably the best win of its season so far, punishing a hapless Bulleen 5-2 at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Friday night.

Tom Cahill was the star of the night, bagging four goals, while Bulleen star Joseph Katebian was handed a rare start on the bench but scored a brace when entering the fray in the 60th minute.

Both top-four sides had been in menacing form, and were looking to finish strongly and fight for the second promotion spot for NPL.

The Eagles created opportunities with their initial attack.

A mazy run from Tim Purcell saw him earn a free-kick, but the following effort from the edge of the box was high and wide.

Bulleen, albeit unfamiliarly, attempted to get in behind Richmond early with long balls looking for Joshua Sabidussi and Gianni De Nittis.

The pair struggled to find their feet during the match, as the Richmond back four stood solid against the oncoming early attacks.

Ryan Oppermann proved a handful for Bulleen, which failed on more than one occasion to shut the midfielder down.

His pace caused a heap of problems for the wing-backs and almost proved telling when he found Hamlet Armenian’s left boot, but the latter’s volley just flew above the crossbar.

Armenian then almost turned provider for Oppermann, wreaking havoc on the other side of midfield and squaring the ball for his teammate.

Oppermann’s tap-in at the back post looked goal-bound, but was blocked thanks to some quick thinking from defender Lewis Waddell.

Armenian’s hard work quickly paid off though, with Cahill slotting his first of four thanks to persistant pressure from the former.

Bulleen failed to deal with the high press from the wingers, as Armenian forced the turnover of possession, sliding the ball through to Cahill who finished calmly after having his first effort blocked.

Halftime quickly approached and Richmond took little time doubling its advantage in the important clash.

Cahill was on hand to head home his second of the evening after a wonderfully placed ball found him free at the back post.

The striker completed his hat-trick a mere four minutes after.

Some calamitous defending from Bulleen’s Dean Romas allowed Cahill to steal the ball, round the oncoming goalkeeper and easily tuck away his third.

Richmond’s last game against Springvale White Eagles saw it record a staggering 22 efforts on goal, but Rick Mensink’s men have struggled this season in converting gilt-edged chances.

A fourth goal from substitute Alistair Quinn looked to halt Richmond’s ineffectiveness in goal, as the home side led 4-0 just after the hour mark.

Some neat work from Cahill set up Quinn, who made no mistake after a fine pass found the midfielder alone on the inside of the box.

Bulleen coach Fabrizio Soncin looked to the bench to sway the game in his favour.

Katebian was bought on in place of De Nittis as Bulleen’s dynamics appeared to change.

The travelling side was awarded a penalty after some man-handling in the box, as Katebian confidently slotted home to make it 4-1.

It was quickly 4-2, after a lofted ball from captain Matteo Ballan found Katebian, who brought it down and slotted home for his second in the space of two minutes, taking his season tally to 17.

The short burst from Bulleen was futile however, as Cahill blasted home his fourth of the game after evading two strong challenges and striking the ball low and hard between ‘keeper Gian Tapia’s legs.

Soncin said his side failed to implement the philosophy he had instilled from the beginning of the season.

“From our point of view it was a failure of trying to implement the game plan early on. We stood off too much and let them bully us around,” Soncin said.

“We see this as another learning opportunity. We’ve had a lot of battles, and the games we’ve lost have been battles.

“We’re not going to change the way we play, or our beliefs, and we’ll hold true to that. All the players have bought in to them and we’ve been loyal to them. We haven’t gone out and brought in a lot of new players.”

Mensink was happy with his side’s big win over a potent Bulleen.

“The boys are over the moon, but as I just told them, I think we can get better,” Mensink said.

“We scored five today and we still missed some chances, but we scored two more than we did last week so I can’t complain. I’m a bit disappointed in how we conceded, but the penalty was there and we couldn’t do much about that.”

MATCH DETAILS:

Round 16, 2014: Richmond 5 (Cahill, 37’ 56’ 60’ 83’, Quinn 61’) defeated FC Bulleen Lions 2 (Katebian 70’ 73’) at Kevin Bartlett Reserve [HT: 1-0]

Richmond: 1. Edward CHADWICK, 2. Andrew GOFF, 4. Mitchell BISSINGER, 6. Vincent BONTEMPS, 5. Rylan SADLER, 8. Joshua KNIGHT, 14. Sebastian PETROVIC (16. Mitchell BEAMISH 83’), 10. Tim PURCELL (18. Alistair QUINN 53’), 12. Ryan OPPERMANN, 7. Hamlet ARMENIAN (15. Gideon SWEET 70’), 9. Tom CAHILL

Unused Subs: 17. Fabian STRANGES, 20. Christian ROSSI

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: None

FC Bulleen Lions: 44. Gian TAPIA (GK), 2. Dean ROMAS, 5. Lewis WADDELL, 8. Matteo BALLAN, 9. Bardhi HYSOLI, 10. Takanori NISHIMOTO, 11, Gianni DE NITTIS (33. Joseph KATEBIAN 60’) 12. Matt DIMECH, 19. Joshua SABIDUSSI, 20. Robert ARMELLINI (4. Sam BORGHESI 68’), 21. Kristian SARKIES (31. Dylan BRESOLIN 68’)

Unused sub: 43. Fraser MACLAREN

Yellow card: None.

Red card: None.