Holiday Inn Match Preview: Essendon head back on the road for second straight week to face Nunawading City
Essendon Royals’ senior men’s side are on the road again this weekend, when they head to Mahoneys Reserve to take on Nunawading City on Saturday afternoon.
Our weekly previews are brought to you by the Geelong Holiday Inn, as we look ahead to the upcoming rounds of action.
Royals come into this weekend’s contest fresh off a heartstopping 3-3 draw with North Sunshine Eagles, where they came from three goals down with just over 10 minutes remaining to salvage a point.
Jordan Adeyemi and Graham Kelly cut the margin to a single goal, before Ali Eyigun scored one of the goals of the season to rescue a draw in the dying minutes.
Watch the highlights from our 3-3 draw with North Sunshine Eagles below.
The draw has the Royals sitting in seventh on the ladder with five games remaining and six points off fourth placed Brunswick Juventus.
Their opponents this weekend, Nunawading, are two points behind Essendon on the ladder in eighth after they also played out a 3-3 draw on the weekend against Goulburn Valley Suns.
Nunawading also came from behind to rescue a point in this game, having been done 2-0 going into half-time.
They are unbeaten in their last three matches, also registering a draw against North Sunshine and defeating league leaders FC Melbourne Serbija in the lead-up to this weekend.
Alex Kubenko has been a handful for defenders all season, scoring nine goals for the campaign, and sits equal-second in the Golden Boot race, one goal behind Adeyemi – who fired home his 10th of the campaign against North Sunshine.
Essendon won the reverse fixture 2-1 at home, courtesy of a late winner from William Thomason whose goal helped complete an incredible comeback after the Royals played much of the contest with 10 players after Davey Van’t Schip was sent off early.
Watch the highlights from our 2-1 win over Nunawading City earlier this season.
Kick-off is at 5:30 PM, with the Under 23s taking the field at 3 PM.
Royals’ Under 23s fell to a 3-1 loss against North Sunshine last week, and now sit in 11th coming into this weekend’s clash against Nunawading, who are in seventh.