Nicholas James Lawyers Men’s Match Report: Eight Goals, and a Statement at Cross Keys
A week earlier the Royals had come home from the country with nothing to show for it and a question to answer. The answer, when it came, ran to eight.
For the first forty-five minutes, though, there was little hint of the deluge to come. The Royals led at the break but only just, and the goal that gave them the cushion was a fine one. Phil Riccobene sprayed a pass from inside his own half out to the right wing, Prince Jordan Adeyemi raced onto it and clipped a first-time cross into the danger area, and when the Springvale keeper could only sprawl and deflect the low ball away from the first attacker, Dean Clarke had timed his run to perfection to force it home. One-nil, and that was how it stayed to half-time.
Whatever calm Springvale carried into the interval did not survive the opening exchanges of the second half. Anthony Trajkoski floated a corner toward the back post early after the restart and watched it sail straight in off the side netting, a wonderful delivery and a fine way to make it two. Within minutes it was three, Marcus Kotronis arriving to finish from close range after a driving run and cross from Clarke. When Springvale then had a man sent off with the game already getting away from them, the contest stopped being a contest.
What followed was a procession, and at the heart of it was Takumi Niwa. Twice the midfielder collected possession deep in his own half, and twice he turned defence into attack with a single sweep of his boot, picking out the run of Kotronis with passes of real quality. Kotronis did the rest on both occasions, racing clear and slotting into the far corner to bring up his hat-trick, running riot against opponents who were now a man short and chasing shadows.
The sixth was made by pressure as much as quality. A short Springvale goal kick played straight into the Royals press, Kotronis hounded his man down on the edge of the box, won the ball back and squared it for Christian Lykopoulos to finish from close range. It was a first senior goal for the young forward, and one he will remember for a long time.
Kotronis was not finished. He had his fourth soon after, a wonderful curling effort from just outside the box that capped an individual display few at Cross Keys will forget in a hurry. There was still time for one more, and it was fitting that it went to another of the club’s own, Diarmaid Harrington getting forward on the overlap to force the ball over the line for a richly deserved eighth.
Eight unanswered, a four-goal haul for Kotronis, two assists from Niwa and first senior goals worth celebrating, and a scoreline that does a good deal more than bank three points.
The win lifts the Royals to third in VPL Men 2 on twenty-seven points and swings the goal difference firmly in their favour, the kind of night that keeps a top-three chase alive deep into the season. Malvern City and Goulburn Valley Suns still sit above them, but a week on from a quiet afternoon up the Hume, this was the loudest response the Royals could have given, and home form remains the bedrock it has been all year.