NJL Match Report: Royals bounce back with important win at Whittlesea
The Essendon Royals got back to winning ways on a chilly Sunday at Mosaic Reserve, putting in a dominant display to defeat Whittlesea United 4-0.
Joshua Markovski, Davey Van’t Schip and two second-half goals from Graham Kelly delivered an important win for the Royals as the State League 1 North-West season hits the halfway mark.
The Royals have a game in hand on their competition, with the washed-out fixture against Brimbank Stallions still to make up, but winning on Sunday after the rest of the teams in the league had played their games was crucial for Essendon.
The game got off to the best possible start for the Royals, with Markovski hitting the back of the net in the third minute.
Ryan McEvoy and Van’t Schip played their short corner routine, creating a better crossing angle for the Irishman to deliver into the box.
McEvoy hit a fierce cross to the back post, which was retrieved by Matteo Ballan and headed back across the face of goal where Markovski was waiting to nod home.
Despite the concession of an early goal, Whittlesea was up for the battle, but they came up against a resolute Royals defence.
Marshalled superbly by Ballan and Kristian Konstantinidis, the Royals restricted Whittlesea to long-range efforts that either missed the target or were well scouted by German Schacht in goals.
The Royals doubled their lead in the 36th minute, following some lovely wing-play from Nobuyuki Usui.
The Japanese winger drove at his marker and rounded him, delivering a bullet-like cross towards Van’t Schip, who made no mistake in directing the ball on target and beyond the helpless keeper.
The Royals took the 2-0 lead into the half-time break despite having to weather some direct play from the home side.
In the second half, the Royals looked much more comfortable and bossed the game.
Five minutes after the restart, the referee awarded a penalty for a handball in the box.
Kelly stepped up and made no mistake, dispatching a powerful shot into the back of the net to set up the rest of the half nicely for the Royals.
With a 3-0 lead in the bag, the Royals looked increasingly comfortable as the half wore on, keeping the ball well and creating some fantastic shooting opportunities.
Van’t Schip saw a deflected shot hit the post, after retrieving a cross that was played behind him, shimmying to create some space and firing off a shot that only narrowly missed thanks to a slight deflection.
Konstantinidis almost scored from the resulting corner, but his header was just a touch too high.
Usui had a fierce shot well saved in the 74th minute before McEvoy saw a lovely hit skim the top of the bar.
Kelly forced another good save in the 77th minute.
He eventually did get his second goal in stoppage time, as he capped a fine team performance off by heading home from close range after another great cross from Usui.
In the earlier kick-off, Essendon Royals Reserves also scored a 4-0 win.
The Ressies were in fine form, helping to ensure a clean sweep of wins for the club’s senior teams on a weekend where between our Men and Women’s teams, 46 goals were scored with none conceded.
Captain James Grasset scored the opening goal after 30 minutes, with Ahmed Elmi making it 2-0 after 42 minutes to give the Royals a 2-0 lead at half-time.
A second-half brace from Joseph Guerrera sealed the emphatic win.