Men’s Match Report: Royals win Cup classic at Cross Keys, seeing off Bulleen in extra time thriller

Essendon Royals have advanced to the next round of the Dockerty Cup in an absolute classic at Cross Keys Reserve, seeing off FC Bulleen Lions 4-3 after extra time on Tuesday night.

Royals – who were without a host of key players including Phil Riccobene, Brad Norton, Ethan Georgopoulos, Andre Russo, Dean Clarke, Will Thomason and Davey Van’t Schip – opened the scoring through Graham Kelly, before Bulleen levelled through captain Marko Bagaric.

The visitors gained the ascendancy twice in the second-half through teenage star Phin Harbinson, but Jordan Adeyemi – who started from the bench – responded each time, scoring two cracking goals, including one in the dying minutes to send it to extra time.

In a thrilling additional 30 minutes, Royals eventually found the winner thanks to an Ali Eyigun penalty in the 115th minute to send Michael Ferrante’s side through to Round 6 of the competition.

They will next face yet another VPL1 opposition in Bentleigh Greens, who defeated Upfield 3-0 last night to book their place in the next round.

Prior to kick-off, coach Ferrante opted to rotate the squad heavily, making eight changes from the side that beat Nunawading last Friday.

A host of youngsters were handed starting opportunities including Ethan Tran, Ryan Mudalier, Noah Ryan, James Tieri and Diarmaid Harrington – who made his first start of the season.

Kelly, along with ex Bulleen players Matteo Ballan and Anthony Ramzy, provided the experience on-field, while Julian Gazzardi was also named in the XI against his former side.

Bulleen started strongly and came ever so close to opening the scoring inside the opening minutes after Vince Nicoletti’s beautiful cross found Mark Kurita at the back post but his effort was well saved by Mudaliar.

Royals weathered the storm and in one swift counter attack took the lead. Desire Nkondogoro fed through Guzzardi’s whose well weighted cross to the back post was headed home by Kelly.

However, their lead lasted just over 10 minutes as a Luke Lofts free kick was nodded into the back of the net by an unmarked Bagaric to bring the scores level.

Only minutes later, Bulleen were denied the lead by another brilliant stop by Mudaliar, who stood up and denied Marcus Dimanche after he was found inside the box by Nicoletti.

After the break, both sides shuffled the deck with Lions coach Giuliano Febbrarino forced to substitute Bagaric through injury, which opened the door for Harbinson to enter the fray, while top scorer Dennis Menelaou was also thrown into the contest.

Meanwhile, Ferrante made a quadruaple substitution, unleashing Adeyemi, Connor Valenti, Themi Tzelepis and Yusuke Nishiyama into the contest.

These substitutes – for both teams – would take the game to another level.

It was Bulleen who answered first, taking the lead in the 67th minute, after a lovely flick from Menelaou played through Kurita, whose cross was nodded home by Harbinson.

But only four minutes later, the scores were level again. A brilliant Royals press forced a turnover, which fell to Adeyemi on the edge of the area, who expertly curled the ball past Lions keeper Ethan Reed and into the far bottom corner.

Bulleen almost once again retook the lead as Harbinson was played in behind by a lovely through-ball from Carlton Westerdale, but was denied by an inspired Mudaliar.

However, Harbinson wouldn’t be denied from the resulting corner, smashing home his second after a scramble in the box to give Bulleen the advantage once more.

With time expiring, the Royals pushed for an equaliser and came agonisingly close when Kelly flashed an effort wide of the mark after brilliant ball from Nishiyama.

But there would eventually be one last twist in the tale, as Adeyemi rocketed home an equaliser from outside the box to send the game to extra time.

Straight after the restart, Bulleen almost found themselves ahead as Lofts just dragged an effort wide of the mark, before Essendon gained control of the first period.

A string of consecutive corners from Eyigun caused issues for the Bulleen defence, with one of them falling to an unmarked Valenti, who somehow smashed over from close range.

Essendon continued their momentum in the second period and Adeyemi came agonisingly close to getting his hat-trick, poking his shot just wide of the mark after some lovely control to create the goal scoring opportunity.

Nishiyama then slammed a header against the post, before minutes later, the Royals were given a chance to take the lead from the penalty spot. Adeyemi was once again in the thick of it, zig-zagging his way inside the box, before being brought down by Papi.

Eyigun stepped up and buried the resulting penalty, sending the Royals faithful into delirium as Essendon hung on to a classic win at Cross Keys.