Image courtesy: Anita Milas
By Kristian Silva
Richmond will remain on the top of the Alanic Victorian Premier League for another week, after a well-deserved 1-0 win over the Oakleigh Cannons at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Friday night.
In a largely forgettable match, Daniel Visevic scored the only goal of the contest in the 75th minute, shortly after Oakleigh had been reduced to ten men following Scott Webster’s sending off for a second bookable offence.
With finals just around the corner, it appears Richmond has shrugged off its mid-season blues to find form at the right time. As for Oakleigh, this is their fifth loss in the last six games.
After scoring in Richmond’s 1-0 win over Sunshine Georgies last week, Davey van’t Schip looked determined to add to his tally early on. After just 6 minutes, he found space on the left side of the box and fired off a shot that crashed into the post.
In an interesting tactical switch, defensive stalwart John Fitzgerald was brought off for Bonel Obradovic a minute later, with Oakleigh reverting to a 3-5-2 formation.
Scott Webster picked up his first yellow card of the night when he went flying in with a dangerous tackle on Richmond skipper Dimitri Tsiaris.
With chances few and far between and stray passes occurring regularly, it was hard to imagine that these two sides have been at the top of the Alanic Victorian Premier League table for most of the season.
Andrew Viola’s over-hit cross almost lobbed an off-guard Adrian Cagalj, with the keeper having to stretch to keep the ball out.
The best chance of the half fell for Visevic just before the break. Running onto a bouncing ball, he tried to poke the ball over the top of Cagalj but sent it narrowly over the bar.
Oakleigh started the second with more promise. Ricky Diaco slipped a nice pass through to Cameron Watson, but the midfielder’s left-footed effort flew across the face of goal.
But unfortunately for the visitors, they couldn’t keep the momentum going as Richmond started to control the match.
Davey van ’t Schip - sporting a large bandage on his arm - was causing Oakleigh all sorts of problems with his hard running and aerial presence.
Michael Ferrante then provided a decent test for Cagalj with a stinging free kick from distance that the keeper did well to hold on to. Had it have been one of the World Cup “Jabulani” balls, who knows what could have happened.
Webster then received his marching orders for his second bookable offence of the night, catching van ’t Schip with his trailing leg.
To his credit, Oakleigh coach John Anastasiadis continued to try and attack despite his side being a man down, bringing on Jerry Karpeh and Bill Damianos.
But Richmond would take the lead soon after, capitalising on their numerical advantage. Tsiaris crossed from the left wing and Visevic delivered with a brilliant side-footed volley into the bottom corner of the net.
From there it was all one way traffic, as Richmond went in for the kill.
Viola embarked on an ambitious solo run, beating two defenders, but his shot went sailing over, literally, into the car park.
Despite his best efforts, van ’t Schip couldn’t find the net but did come close in the stoppage time, forcing Cagalj to parry his long-range shot away.
After the match, Richmond coach Michael Chatzitirifonos said beating a fellow title contender was very important for his side, and was particularly pleased with the win considering they only had a four day break following their round 18 match.
“I thought the game on Monday was pretty taxing (for the players) so we made a couple of changes to bring in some fresh legs,” Chatzitirifonos said.
“One of the huge advantages we have is that we have some depth in our squad.
“I’ve always said to the players that there will always be a time in the year when you’ll have a bumpy ride, and we’ve had that.
“What I’m pleased about is that we have battled through that with two wins in a row and I’m hoping we can get some momentum going into the finals campaign.”
Next Sunday, Richmond faces South Melbourne at John Cain Memorial Reserve.
Oakleigh’s poor form continues, and right now they are a shadow of the side that was dominating the league earlier in the season. However, they won’t have a better chance to turn things around than next week, when they play the out-of-form Sunshine George Cross at Knights Stadium.
Richmond: Stjepan GAL (Gk), Andrew VIOLA, Dimitri TSIARIS, Milos LUJIC (Jesse KRNCEVIC 73’), Daniel VISEVIC (Michael CATALANO 86’), Michael FERRANTE, Antun KOVACIC, Mitch BISSINGER, Tomislav MILARDOVIC, Steven TOPALOVIC, Davey VAN’T SCHIP.
Unused Subs: Robert SIMEONI (Gk), Conor REDDAN, Mate ETEROVIC.
Goals: VISEVIC (75’).
Yellow Cards: VAN’T SCHIP, TOPALOVIC.
Oakleigh Cannons: Adrian CAGALJ (Gk), Jamie CUMMING, John FITZGERALD (Bonel OBRADOVIC 7’), Stelios DRAKOS, Ljuban PALINIC, Yusuf YUSUF, Cameron WATSON, Nick KALMAR, Scott WEBSTER, Ricky DIACO (Jerry KARPEH 71’), Michael CURCIJA (Bill DAMIANOS 71’).
Unused Subs: Scott AGUSTIN (Gk), Ashley SAVANAH.
Red Cards: WEBSTER (2 Yellow cards).
Last updated: Saturday July 24, 2010 11:09AM
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