By BRANDON GALGANO (@bgalgano94)

Photo MARK AVELLINO

 

Two goals in the final ten minutes has seen Goulburn Valley Suns claim a vital point against NPL 1 East rivals Richmond at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Sunday night.

Having dominated the contest for 80 minutes, the home side looked comfortable in securing an important victory with a two-goal lead, before late strikes for Vani Shamoon and Jamie England ensured that the boys from Shepparton would go home with a point.

The hosts very nearly took the lead inside the opening five minutes as the ball broke inside the area but Suns keeper Phil Petrovski got off his line to smother, keeping the scores at 0-0.

With neither side creating any clear chances the match became a quite physical affair, with Richmond midfielder Josh Valadon lucky to escape with just a yellow card following an altercation with Abel Fesseha.

With the Eagles continuing to look dangerous it seemed only a matter of time before they opened the scoring and in the 27^th minute a penalty was awarded to the home side against veteran defender Naum Sekulovski.

Tom Cahill stepped up to take but his effort was brilliantly denied by Petrovski, who got down well to his right to parry the ball away.

It didn’t take long for the English striker to exact revenge though with Cahill opening the scoring in the 40^th minute.

Having won a free kick on the edge of the area, Cahill curled the ball into the bottom corner on Petrovski’s side, deceiving the young goalkeeper who had stepped across anticipating a shot over the wall, to make it 1-0 Richmond.

And just ten minutes after the break the hosts had doubled their advantage through Michael Catalano.

The diminutive midfielder found space on the edge of the area before placing the ball into the bottom corner making it 2-0 Richmond and leaving the Suns with a real mountain to climb.

They very nearly made it 3-0 in the 67^th minute but yet again Petrovski was on hand to deny the hosts who were seemingly in complete control of the contest with the rain well and truly coming down.

Just seven minutes from time though the Suns got themselves back into the match through impressive youngster Shamoon.

With his initial pass across deflected the winger got the ball back before launching an effort at goal which struck a Richmond defender before flying into the top corner to get the Suns back into the contest.

The goal seemed to lift the visitors, and they found their equaliser just two minutes from time through Jamie England.

The midfielder rose highest to head home a well taken Sean Ellis set piece to level the match at 2-2.

And despite some late pressure from the hosts who were desperate to regain the advantage the referee blew for full time with the Suns noticeably happier to take home a point then their Melbourne counterparts.

Match Details:

Richmond SC 2 (Cahill 39’, Catalano 55’) drew with Goulburn Valley Suns 2 (Shamoon 83’, England 88’) at Kevin Bartlett Reserve.

Richmond XI: 1 Christian ROSSI, 2 Andrew GOFF, 3 Matthew COLLIER, 23 Joshua VALADON, 12 Matthew WATERS, 6 Peter SAWAN, 12 Samuel CATHERINE (5 Brendan RICHARDSON 84’), 19 Michael CATALANO (18 George VOLIOTIS 90’), 7 Hamlet ARMENIAN (10 Alex CANIGLIA 78’), 8 Joshua KNIGHT, 9 Tom CAHILL

Unused Subs: 20 Chris DAVIS, 15 Jay KELLY

Yellow Cards: Valadon 18’, Goff 59’

Goulburn Valley Suns XI: 1 Phillip Petrovski, 5 Jordan MONTAGNER (17 Adrian CORBO 78’), 6 Nikolaos KALAFATIS, 4 Naum SEKULOVSKI (16 Matthew LELLIOT 46’), 3 Greg NASH, 8 Jamie ENGLAND, 11 Shaun KANE, 19 Sean ELLIS, 20 Vani SHAMOON, 7 Abel FESSEHA (12 Firaol LIKASSA 62’), 9 Craig CARLEY

Unused Substitutes: 18 Daniel BISH, 22 Jake KEATING

Yellow Cards: Sekulovski 13’, Ellis 90’