By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

Richmond has grinded out a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Whittlesea Ranges at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Friday night.

The home side came out firing and should have taken the lead as early as the first minute, after a beautifully weighted corner found the prolific Tom Cahill arriving at the back post, only for his header to flash wide from point-blank range.

Two chances then came Whittlesea’s way, which also failed to convert after its attempts on goals were scrambled clear by the Richmond back four that struggled to deal with set pieces.

A succession of corners almost broke the deadlock for Richard Mensick’s Richmond, but its inability to finish under pressure almost proved costly.

Whittlesea broke from the corner on a counter attack, a long ball over the top was booted high into the air and controlled expertly by a lively Matthew Iuliano, who managed to turn and hit the post from just outside the box in his side’s best effort of the game.

Cahill’s second chance of the game came just before the halftime whistle when the striker was put through on goal, but his cheeky effort from a chip was not enough to fool Whittlesea custodian Anthony Raspudic, who managed to get a full hand to thwart the striker’s effort.

An almost identical start to the second half followed with Richmond attacking instantaneously, looking for the pace and strength of Hamlet Armenian down the right wing.

However, Whittlesea was almost gifted a goal. Iuliano picked up a mistimed pass from Richmond’s Sebastian Petrovic and should have done better, with the whole goal at his mercy, but he shot just wide of the upright in a chance he’d later regret.

Richmond continuously held the ball for long periods of play, and in the space of 10 minutes had two wonderfully carved chances cleared off the line by some courageous Whittlesea defending.

In the 79th minute Whittlesea’s resolve was broken as Armenian’s cool finish broke the deadlock.

The striker had numerous chances throughout the evening and was finally rewarded after he found himself chasing a bouncing ball which goalkeeper Raspudic came out to collect, but failed to catch. The winger calmly rounded the oncoming shot-stopper to slot home the eventual winner.

A late Whittlesea substitution and push for an equaliser was futile, with Richmond seeing out the 1-0 victory to the delight of its fans.

Whittlesea defender Mark Vangeli was notably dejected following the full-time whistle, but holds faith in what he believes is a young squad which is slowly developing.

“It’s a very disappointing result. The boys are very upset. Coming up against Richmond, who are struggling too, we had our chances. Luck just didn’t go our way,” Vangeli said.

“It hurts the lads. They want to win every game, like every player does. We’re learning and developing. Week by week we’re getting stronger, unfortunately the results aren’t coming, but we’ve got faith in the youngsters. We know we can bounce back from this result.”

Richmond manager Richard Mensink was in a jovial mood following the result that was character building for his side, attributing his side’s commitment and shape to the win.

“We totally grinded that one out towards the end. It was non negotiable. Our lot gave one hundred and ten percent and I got that today, I’m exceptionally happy. I thought we deserved it,” Mensink said.

“They cleared two off the line, on another day Tom Cahill could have had a hat-trick, and our shape looked a lot better this week. We can really attribute this win to our shape.”

MATCH DETAILS

Richmond 1 (Armenian 79’) defeated Whittlesea Ranges 0 at Kevin Bartlett Reserve

Richmond: 1. Edward CHADWICK, 2. Andrew GOFF, 17. Vincent BONTEMPTS, 14. Sebastian PETROVIC, 11. Liam FLYNN, 15. Brendan RICHARDSON, 10. Tim PURCELL (73’ 16. Mitchell BEAMISH), 8. Joshua KNIGHT (90+5’ 25. Fabian STRANGES), 12. Ryan OPPERMANN (86’ 5. Ryan SADLER), 7. Hamlet ARMENIAN, 9. Tom CAHILL

Unused Subs: 20. Tom BANFIELD, 19. Peter SAWAN

Yellows: 45+1 Goff

Reds: None

Whittlesea Ranges: 1. Anthony RASPUDIC, 24. Rami MUSTAFOSKI (84’ 5. Ahmet TURER), 4. Mark VANGELI, 23. Daniel SOTIROPOULOS, 15. John REALE (70’ 16. Mile RISTOV), 14. Daniel PELUSO, 18. Nicholas SARBIN, 25. Daniel GIOGHA, 10. Matthew IULIANO, 9. Kliment DIMITRIESKI, 7. Jarrod DEL MONACO (80’ 12. Tomislav TRBUHOVICH)

Unused Subs: 2. Lachlan SAGG, 13. Adem MUSTEDANAGIC

Yellows: 34’ Sarbin, 43’ Giogha, 47’ Sagg

Reds: None