By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

Richmond has seen off Kingston in a strong performance for the home side at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Friday night.

Club stalwart Tom Cahill netted his first of the season, while Andrew Goff was on hand to double his side’s advantage just before half time.

Richmond’s impressive performance began well.

They pressed from the off, and were determined to give Kingston nothing in the early stages.

But a lapse in concentration almost gifted City a goal within the opening ten minutes.

Striker Sean McIlroy came close for Kingston only to have his effort saved well by Chris Davis in the Richmond goal.

Moments after, Richmond’s persistence was rewarded through Tom Cahill.

Cahill’s turn and volley was a result of some poor defending from Kingston, leaving Fraser Maclaren rooted to the spot with no chance in getting a hand to the drilled effort.

The lead almost didn’t last long, with Kingston almost getting an equaliser within ten minutes.

Deniz Subanovski should have scored after finding himself through on goal and one-on-one with the oncoming Richmond custodian David, who did enough to distract Subanovski from hitting the target.

The shot trickled just wide of the left post.

Cahill continued to prove a menace and his powerful run down the left wing was rewarded after Andrew Goff bundled in a second goal.

Goff showed his versatility with a somewhat unorthodox finish, firstly getting his head on Cahill’s cross from close range, and finishing with his feet after receiving a nudge and going to ground.

Kingston came out firing in the second half.

George Stavridis’ impact off the bench was almost instant, as the attacker did well to work his way into the box, only to see his shot fly past the far post of the Richmond goal as the visitors committed numbers forward to pressure the hosts.

Gino Defeo also came close to scoring straight off the bench, after Stavridis’ ball found the striker within the box, and when a goal looked certain, the striker was unable to get the shot off with any purpose.

As the game opened up, Kingston could only manage frustrating efforts on goal, and were lucky to not concede on the break.

Tom Cahill bullied his way through the Kingston back four and could have had a brace after being one-on-one with Maclaren, but his shot too bounced wide.

Richmond would see out the game 2-0.

 

Match Details

Richmond Soccer Club 2 (Cahill 15’, Goff 41’) def Kingston City 0 at KB Reserve

RSC: 20. Chris DAVIS, 2. Andrew GOFF, 3. Matthew COLLIER (8. Joshua KNIGHT 46’), 4. George TSIAKALAKIS, 23. Joshua VALADON, 6. Peter SAWAN, 17. Samuel CATHERINE, 12. Matthew WATERS, 16. Ryan LAMBERT (19. Michael CATALANO 58’), 11. Liam FLYNN (15. Jay KELLY 79’), 9. Tom CAHILL

Unused Subs: 10. Tim PURCELL, 5. Andrew SKOULLOS

Yellows: Knight 60’, Catherine 89’, Sawan 90’

Reds: None

 

KC: 1. Fraser MACLAREN, 3. Kemal CURAN, 4. James KARVELIS, 5. Nicholas TEICHMANN (18. Gino DEFEO 73’), 6. Nicholas MODAFFARI, 17. Laurent CORALIE (7. Benjamin OSEI-SAFO 60’), 16. Nicholas STAMATIOU, 8. Deniz SUBANOVSKI, 9. Sean MACOLROY, 11. Stelios KONSTANTINIDIS, 14. Damian IACONIS (2. George STAVRIDIS 62’)

Unused Subs: 10. Jamie DE SMIT, 13. Douglas LINDBERG

Yellows: Modaffari 78’

Reds: None

PHOTO: Mark Avellino