By Billy Green

Second-placed Richmond SC have defeated Nunawading City in a dominant display at Mahoney’s Reserve this Sunday, winning 4-0 in an angst-fueled match which saw a player for each team sent back to the locker rooms prematurely with red cards.

The final scoreboard was extremely generous to Nuna, with Richmond missing continually simple strikes which won’t be afforded to them by higher-placed teams.

With top-of-the-table Melbourne Victory suffering a 0-5 defeat in the NPL 1 East, it was a significant opportunity for Richmond to close the gap as the end of the season drew closer.

Richmond’s Joshua Knight had multiple shots on goal in the first half but was unable to convert any, missing wide on multiple occasions.

On five minutes, a corner was sent sky-high off the foot of Nuna’s Samuel Antoniadis and landed on the head of Richmond’s Knight in the area, but he sent it over the cross-bar.

Knight had another two shots on goal early in the first half but was unable to convert any, missing wide on multiple occasions.

While the press of Richmond locked the ball in their half much of the time, Nuna struggled to find a clean structure in attack, but seemed more dangerous through fast rebounds out of the back.

Captain Ivan Skorich placed a perfect chip over the Richmond defence at the 8-minute mark to John-Luc Silvestri, but Christian Rossi made a confident save.

Richmond continued to apply pressure with relentless movement forward, which was impressive until the final strike, Liam Flynn missing two wide

Peter Sawan and Samuel Catherine also had chances for Richmond, but Keegan Coulter guarded his goals fiercely.

Finally, Flynn found space in the box on 39 minutes and smashed it into the top-right corner for the first goal of the day.

Knight was granted two more chances before the close of the half, but continued to miss and kept the hosts within reach.

On 45 minutes, defender Ben-Harvey Robinson laid a blatantly aggressive tackle and was given a red card, sent straight to the change-rooms and leaving his team down one man.

The second half continued with much of the same Richmond domination as Nuna scrambled to hold possession out of defence.

On 51 minutes, Tom Cahill broke through the Nuna defence and laid it off to Jay Kelly, but Coulter continued to make impressive saves.

Knight missed another two strikes on goal, with one sailing over the cross-bar from just metres out.

He redeemed himself at 65 minutes, putting a low cross into Samuel Catherine on the far goal post who put it in easily behind Coulter.

Tensions began to build later in the game, Richmond’s Tom Cahill and Daniel Piovesan being carded for foul language targeted at the referee.

The match became stinted by these as well as multiple citations, but a brief interlude saw Kelly pounce on a corner in the 68-minute mark and put the visitors up 3-0.

Aggressive attack from Nuna substitute Anthony Giannopoulos climaxed at 73 minutes, play stopping altogether as verbal feuds broke out between linesmen, referee and players of both teams.

Giannopoulos crashed into Rossi as play resumed, and the keeper seemed to be injured as the match halted once again as Rossi slowly hobbled to his feet and returned to his position.

Minutes into overtime, Knight was shown a red card for foul language against the referee.

Moments later, a corner was received by Tom Cahill in the back corner of the box, who juggled the ball over a Nuna defender and struck the ball into goals to close the game out 4-0.

 

Match details

Nunawading City 0 lost to Richmond SC 4 (Flynn 39’, Catherine 65’, Kelly 68’, Cahill 90+3’) at Mahoney’s Reserve

Nunawading City: 1. Keegan COULTER, 10. Ivan SKORICH, 9. David ANTEQUERRA, 19. John-Luc SILVESTRI (7. Anthony GIANNOPOULOS 53’), 21. Felix DIMITRAKIS, 44. Samuel ANTONIADIS (17. David MOROVIC 65’), 31. Dylan FACCI, 40. Daniel PATTERSON, 41. Emile DAMEY, 20. Stefan PAPAGEORGIOU (5. Peter EVANGELAKOS 16’), 4. Ben-Harvey ROBINSON

Unused Sub(s): 22. Dylan TERVIT

Yellow Card(s): Facci 76’, Morovic 87’

Red Card(s): Robinson 45’

 

Richmond: 1. Christian ROSSI, 2. Andrew GOFF, 12. Matthew WATERS, 21. Daniel PIOVESAN, 18. Jordan SEETO, 6. Peter SAWAN (14. Mate ETEROVIC 66’), 17. Samuel CATHERINE (16. Ryan LAMBERT 89’), 8. Joshua KNIGHT, 15. Jay KELLY, 11. Liam FLYNN (7. Hamlet ARMENIAN 78’), 9. Tom CAHILL

Unused substitutes: 20. Chris DAKIS, 5. Declan LAMBERT

Yellow cards: Piovesan 67’, Cahill 69’, Seeto 88’

Red cards: Knight 90+3’