ConnectOS Men’s Match Report: Youth, Grit, and a Dose of Class as Royals Reign on Return to Cross Keys
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By the time the final whistle pierced the Essendon air, Cross Keys Reserve felt like home again.
Essendon Royals didn’t just return home on Saturday — they reclaimed territory. Cross Keys was the stage, and a youthful, fearless squad was ready to steal the show.
Ultimately, it was a 2-0 win over Box Hill United, but this was more than a scoreline.
It was a homecoming, as the Royals entered the stage on a new, green surface and a somewhat new timeslot, kicking off on a brilliant Autumn’s day in Essendon at 3pm, after an issue with birds chewing lights forced a late change of kick-off time.
The first act of this story was all energy. Dean Clarke wasted no time igniting the mood, surging forward straight from kick-off like a man late for a train.
Around him, a Royals XI missing key players James Tieri and Jordan Adeyemi (both suspended) featured a handful of fresh faces, but you wouldn’t have known it.
Julian Guzzardi, Marcus Kotronis, Will Thomason, Diarmaid Harrington and Ben Smith, all eligible for the U23s, and most either Royals juniors or local products and increasingly regular faces in the Royals first-team, took to the pitch not as placeholders, but as protagonists. And they owned the stage.
The opening half saw Kotronis come closest, unable to keep a fizzing low cross from Clarke on target. It was a let-off for Box Hill, but they wouldn’t be let off for long.
Because after the break, the kids kept running — and the veterans clicked into gear.
Kotronis turned menace into magic when he burned down the left flank, flung in a devilish ball across the face, and Clarke slammed home with a calmness that silenced doubt and sparked celebration.
Then came the icing. Takumi Niwa forced home the second, a blocked first attempt, a second bite, and then a thumping finish that made it 2-0.
In between those goals and the final whistle, Andre Russo went full superhero, denying Box Hill time and again, determined to protect his clean sheet like a dragon over treasure.
As the sun dipped behind the grandstand, the scoreboard held steady. 2-0. Three points. Five U23s. Countless reasons to smile.
And on a ground that’s seen so much Royals history, this felt like the start of something new and special.
FULL-TIME: Essendon Royals 2-0 Box Hill United