Melbourne Victory has taken top spot in the NPL 1 East with a clinical 3-0 win over Richmond at JL Murphy Reserve on Thursday night. 

Off the back of a 4-1 thumping of Ballarat, Victory's youth prospects showed a large amount of potential by containing the highly physical Eagles, in particular last year’s golden boot winner Tom Cahill. 

Richmond began brightly and won a 15th-minute spot kick, but Cahill's penalty was parried by Lucas Spinella who then bravely followed up with another stunning save. 

After spurning the opportunity to lead, Victory took the initiative through Maclean's 4th goal in 5 days. Stefan Nigro dinked an exquisite ball into the area and the former Kingston winger did the rest, firing past Chris Davies.

Tom Cahill wasted another opportunity to get on the scoresheet, slicing wide, as a total of five yellow cards were issued in a niggling first period. 

Off the back of a smartly taken goal last week, Kieran Dover went agonisingly close with gorgeous turn before crashing his effort against the base of the post on the hour mark. 

Ten minutes later Stefan Nigro produced the highlight of his stellar midfield masterclass with a cheeky nutmeg and through ball to match. Joey Katebian failed to make the most of his number six's brilliance however, and smashed his shot straight at Davies. 

As well as being a goal down, Richmond went a man down as Liam Flynn was shown a red card to go with his 44th minute booking. 

That didn't stop their intent though, with Cahill collecting Collier's cross-field switch and hammering a thunderous effort against the upright which had Spinella well beaten. 

With senior coach Kevin Muscat in attendance, Dover eventually got his reward with fifteen minutes remaining, showing smart footwork and a classy finish to double the lead. 

To seal the points and a spot at the top of the table, Katebian rounded Davies and tapped into an empty net in the final minute of normal time. 

 

MATCH DETAILS

Melbourne Victory 3 (Maclean 19', Dover 75', Katebian 90') defeated Richmond SC 0 at JL Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne

MVC: Lucas SPINELLA, Thomas DENG, Milos RIDESIC, Damien MISKULIN, Nick GLAVAN, Stefan NIGRO, Anthony DUZEL, Joey KATEBIAN, Kieran DOVER, John MACLEAN, George HOWARD

Yellow cards: Ridesic 9', Glavan 16', Spinella 26', Miskulin 52'

RSC: Chris DAVIES, Matt COLLIER, George TSIAKALAKIS, Josh VALADON, Liam FLYNN, Samuel CATHERINE, Peter SAWAN, Josh KNIGHT, Andrew GOFF, Jay KELLY, Tom CAHILL

Yellow cards: Valadon 28', Flynn 44, 70'

Red Card: Flynn 70'