By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

Richmond secured its third win in a row in its 2-0 victory over third-placed St Albans Saints at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Friday night.

The home side began quickly and almost scored before the fans had the chance to take their seats.

A fantastic ball found Ryan Oppermann in the clear, who latched onto the pass only to see his well-timed lob fly over an oncoming Saints ‘keeper Stjepan Gal and hit the crossbar.

An opening 20 minutes saw chances from both sides, with both failing to capitalise until an individual effort from Tim Purcell found the net in the 27th minute.

The no.10 troubled the Saints throughout the first half, and made his chance count after feinting left and right to turn his defender, and calmly finish into the bottom-left corner.

Purcell’s opener slowed the tempo of the game, with Richmond happy to defend its lead at least for the remainder of the first half.

Richard Mensink’s men should have found themselves 2-0 up after an advancing Joshua Knight closed down and intercepted a poor pass from the St Albans defence.

Knight was left through on goal in a one-on-one situation but his shot along the ground was tame and was gathered calmly by Gal.

St Albans continued to push for the equaliser and could have gone ahead through Juso Julardzija, whose shot dragged a metre wide of the goal from outside the box just before halftime.

The away side would eventually regret not having taken its earlier chances, as 10 minutes into the second period a freak goal saw Richmond double its advantage.

Gal’s attempted goal-kick ricocheted off Tom Cahill and into the back of the net. The striker wheeled away in celebration without knowing much about what had happened in the lead-up to the goal.

Things were made even harder for the Saints as substitute Craig Sweeney was red carded 10 minutes after his side had gone 2-0 down.

Sweeney was handed two yellow cards for dissent.

Hamlet Armenian then had a chance to extend the lead with an opportunity almost identical to that of Knight’s in the first half, a one-on-one situation where the resulting shot didn’t bother Gal.

With Richmond climbing the table each week, Mensink said his charges had to keep believing in their abilities.

“We’re just getting a little bit better every week. I think we got sucked into a battle into the second half, but we won the battle,” Mensink said.

“We got to get better, we have to take our chances. Our guys are starting to believe now. Belief is a wonderful thing and we just have to go with it.”

St Albans coach Toby Paterson was disappointed with his side’s inability to finish the chances they created early in the game.

“Disappointed. Of course, I’m disappointed with the sending off, and the goal we’ve conceded. It’s an absolutely silly goal to concede,” Paterson said.

Paterson sung the praises of a Richmond side which was in its best run of form so far this season.

“All credit to Richmond. Tonight I thought they were exceptional. They’ve lifted their game and it was our toughest game. I’ll put it down to a bad performance for my team, but I thought Richmond were exceptional,” he said.

MATCH DETAILS

Richmond (Purcell 27’, Cahill 65’) defeated St Albans Saints 0 at Kevin Bartlett Reserve [HT: 1-0]

Richmond: 1.  Edward CHADWICK, 2. Andrew GOFF, 17. Vincent BONTEMPS, 14. Sebastian PETROVIC,  11. Liam FLYNN, 15. Brendon RICHARDSON, 10. Tim PURCELL (19. Peter SAWAN 71’), 8. Joshua KNIGHT (16. Mitchell BEAMISH 87’), 12. Ryan OPPERMANN (13. Jason RICCIUTI 89’), 7. Hamlet ARMENIAN, 9. Tom CAHILL

Unused Subs: 5. Rylan SADLER, 20. Tom BANFIELD

Yellow Cards: 7. Hamlet ARMENIAN 54’, 8. Joshua KNIGHT 55’, 14. Sebastian PETROVIC 86’

Red Cards: None.

St Albans Saints: 1. Stjepan GAL, 4. Barry DEVLIN, 5. Felix ROSMAN, 14. Adam NAKIC, 15. Konrad DOBRASZIEWICZ (8. Craig SWEENEY 51’), 13. Nicholas CULLEN, 2. Ryan MCGUFFIE, 6. Martin MASON (16. Ajak PANEK 66’), 10. Brodie PATTERSON, 7. Juso JULARDZIJA (18. Teddros YABIO 69’), 9. Sean MCILROY

Unused Subs: 14. Christopher ROSS, 21. Tonio BARESIC

Yellow Cards: 10. Brodie PATTERSON 44’, 9. Sean MCILROY 82’, 8. Craig SWEENEY 75’x2

Red Cards: 8. Craig SWEENEY 75’