By James Manton

Richmond has retained second place on the PS4 NPL1 East table after a hard-fought win against a fiery Whittlesea Ranges at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Sunday.

After a lacklustre first half in which either side only managed one or two shots each, two goals in a four minute burst was enough to secure the home side a 2-1 victory.

Mickael Catalano should have put Richmond ahead within the opening 10 minutes, but he was unable to capitalise on a lovely one-two with Tom Cahill at the edge of the area, tamely shooting into the keeper.

Ranges could have also taken the early lead following a Stefan Baricevic shot, as Christian Ross' save found its way to the feet of Matthew Cundari, however he pulled his shot well over the crossbar despite being only metres from the goal line.

As a poor first half faded into history, the second began in a much more enthralling manner as both sides managed on-target efforts within a minute of the restart.

The tempo had clearly been raised following the break, as Mario Piraino would have scored for the visitors from 20 metres if not for Ross' athletic, sprawling save.

However it was Richmond which made the breakthrough right on the hour mark as Catalano made up for his earlier miss, managing to just slide the ball over Gian Tapia's head with what could have been a shot or a cross.

Regardless, it gave Richmond the lead.

And then barely five minutes later it had been doubled, as Alex Caniglia got onto the end of a Catalano toe-poke before rifling the ball into the underside of the crossbar for a goal.

Piraino had a chance to peg one back for Whittlesea from the kick-off, but he scuffed his effort from the edge of the area - which also had Ross beaten.

The visitors had a chance to get back into the game as Cundari won a penalty after he was barged over following a shot inside the box, with the referee pointing to the spot.

Matthew Iuliano coolly slotted the ball into the net, which gave Whittlesea the belief they could take something from the game.

However the chances began drying up towards the full-time whistle, though the yellow cards did not.

The referee handed out six yellow cards in the last fifteen minutes, with Piraino picking up two in short succession and effectively removing any chance of the visitors taking a result, as Richmond held on to claim the win.

MATCH DETAILS

 

Richmond Soccer Club 2 (Catalano 59', Caniglia 63') defeating Whittlesea Ranges 1 (Iuliano 72')

 

RICHMOND: 1. Christian ROSS, 2. Andrew GOFF, 23. Joshua VALADON, 18. Jordan SEETO, 12. Matthew WATERS, 6. Peter SAWAN, 8. Joshua KNIGHT (11. Liam FLYNN 71'), 19. Mickael CATALANO (14. Marc ETEROVIC 64'), 7. Hamlet ARMENIAN (15. Jay KELLY 86'), 10. Alex CANIGLIA, 9. Tom CAHILL

 

Unused substitutes: 20. Chris DAVIS, 21. Daniel PIOVESAN

 

Yellow card(s): Sawan 83', Waters 90+1

 

Red card(s): Nil

 

 

 

WHITTLESEA: 1. Gian TAPIA, 19. Adem MUSTEDANAGIC, 5. Daniel SOTIROPOULOS, 20. Tobias HAEGELE, 2. Pavle DARKIC, 17. Stefan BARICEVIC, 4. Mario PIRAINO, 13. Ilhan ALTUNTIS (6. Andrew TAYLOR 71'), 7. Matthew CUNDARI, 10. Matthew IULIANO, 15. Matthew KUNDEVSKI (21. Marlian TORIE 86')

 

Unused substitutes: 27. Jarrod HILL, 23. Michael ZEIBEKKIS

 

Yellow card(s): Cundari 21', Piraino 79' 82', Taylor 82', Baricevic 89'

 

Red card(s): Piraino 82'