Richmond punishes White Eagles
By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)
Richmond has seen out a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Springvale White Eagles at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Friday night, with James Stefanou’s header in the 57th minute proving the difference in a tight contest.
The home side was on the back foot early as Springvale applied early pressure and were lucky not to go ahead after a host of chances went begging for the White Eagles.
Abel Fesseha was among most of the action for the travelling team, running rings in behind the Richmond defence which struggled to contain him.
The winger missed a golden chance in the first half to square it to an oncoming teammate after he did exceptionally well to round two Richmond defenders and get to the by-line inside the box, but the last touch let him down as the home side was finally able to clear the danger.
Midway through the second half, Grant Brebner’s men controlled proceedings, both in set plays and general possession.
Josh Knight’s curled effort from the right side of midfield found the head of Hamlet Armenian, whose shot crashed off the crossbar leaving Springvale’s goalkeeper glued to the spot.
After a shaky beginning Armenian and Tom Cahill caused havoc again, first with Cahill finding space inside the box and seeing his shot flash wide, and Armenian’s delightful ball finding the feet of Knight, who lined up a scuffed shot which didn’t trouble the keeper.
Fesseha again tested Richmond’s resolve on the break. A smart, quick corner from the White Eagles found the feet of the dangerous midfielder, whose cracking shot was met by an even finer save by Matthew Hrastov in goal.
The strike seemed destined for the top right-hand corner, but a flying save tipped the ball over the bar and out for a corner, followed shortly by the halftime break.
A shaky early beginning of the second half for Hrastov could have undone his work at the end of the first half.
A long ball from Springvale searching for options up front seemed to be rolling out of play until Fesseha’s pace caught Richmond’s keeper out in no-man’s land.
The winger rounded the keeper but only the upright thwarted his shot into an open net.
After that early blip Richmond continued the pressure applied in the first half and was rewarded with the winning goal almost immediately after being lucky not to concede.
Another weighted effort from Knight found the head of James Stefanou, who nodded home un-marked to make it 1-0.
The result was disappointing for Springvale given its early pressure, and its job was made harder after Zoran Vukas was sent off after a tackle on David Kustura late in proceedings.
A member of the White Eagles technical staff was also sent off, with coach Zlatko Mihajlovic defending his colleague.
“I think the referee lost his way a little bit. There was abuse being made at some of our players and our assistant got sent off, because we’re just here to protect our players,” Mihajlovic said.
Grant Brebner spoke on the change of mentality at halftime which enabled Richmond to see out the game.
“We came in in the second half and our boys stood up. Tactically in the second half we changed it. Instead of Tom (Cahill) playing up there on his own, we put two up there and basically nullified them. As you saw yourselves the 1-0 win was probably a bit unjust in the end,” Brebner said.
Springvale White Eagles will host North Geelong Warriors in Round 3, while Richmond will travel to FC Bulleen Lions in a Monday night fixture.
MATCH DETAILS:
FT: Richmond 1 (James Stefanou 57’) defeated Springvale White Eagles 0 at Kevin Bartlett Reserve (HT 0-0)
Richmond: 1 Hrastov (GK), 12 Stefanou, 5 Sadler, 18 Tsiakalakis, 3 Millborrow, 6 Kustura, 10 Purcell (Petrovic 45’), 8 Knight, 7 Armenian, 11 Flynn, 9 Cahill (C)
Subs: 4 Supple, 20 Banfield, 14 Petrovic, 16 Beamish, 2 Goff
Unused Subs: Supple, Banfield, Beamish, Goff
Yellow Cards: Sadler 20,’ Tsiakalakis 90’
Red Cards: Nil
Springvale White Eagles: 1 Tetron (GK), 3 Calderone (Maghiar 80’), 4 Jovanovic, 14 Don Paul, 6 Saric, 17 Vukas, 13 Millar (Millar 82’), 19 Milojevic, 16 Fesseha, 21 Erakovic (Milojevic 66’), 23 Holmes
Subs: 12 Tomic, 5 Millar, 10 Milojevic, 11 Maghiar, 24 De Smit
Unused Subs: Tomic, De Smit
Yellow Cards: Millar 45,’ Vukas 20,’
Red Cards: Vukas 83’
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