Nicholas James Lawyers Men’s Match Report: Royals Topple the Leaders at Malvern
The toughest fixture on the board, away to the side that has sat top of the division all season, and the Royals came home from it with all three points and a statement nobody at the top of VPL Men 2 can ignore.
Malvern City arrived into Saturday as the runaway pace-setters, a side built on the meanest defence in the competition, a back line that had conceded only eighteen goals across its first sixteen games. The Royals put four past it in a single evening. Anthony Trajkoski, Dean Clarke, Jordan Adeyemi and Marcus Kotronis all found the net, four different names sharing the load against a defence that had not been opened up like this all season, with Adeyemi scoring from the penalty spot and Kotronis continuing the scoring run that has made him one of the form strikers in the division.
Malvern’s reply, a strike from Carlton Westerdale and an own goal, never looked like dragging the night back their way. A 4-2 win away to the leaders is the sort of result that changes how a season is read, and it came on the back of an eight-goal night against Springvale White Eagles a week earlier, twelve goals in two games and a team that has found its most dangerous form at exactly the right time.
This is a Royals side that deals only in clear outcomes, and the record bears it out, ten wins, no draws and seven defeats across the campaign. A team with no interest in the middle ground was always going to be a difficult guest for a leader expecting to control the night, and so it proved. Mick Ferrante’s men did not travel to contain Malvern and hope, they travelled to win, and the scoreboard rewarded the intent.
The result lifts the Royals to third on thirty points and keeps the chase to the top two alive with eight rounds still to play. Malvern stay first on thirty-seven despite the loss, with Goulburn Valley Suns second on thirty-six after their own 2-1 win over Eastern Lions, so the gap at the summit has not closed on its own. What has changed is the belief behind it. A side that can win at the home of the league leaders, and win by two while scoring four, has every right to keep talking about the company above it.
Around the grounds the division kept its shape, Nunawading City beating Keilor Park 2-0, Kingston City edging Moreland City 2-1, and next opponent Werribee City coming off a heavy 4-0 defeat away to Whittlesea United. The Royals under-20s were beaten 3-2 in their own trip to Malvern, the one sour note on an otherwise excellent day for the club on the road.
There was a farewell woven through the afternoon as well. Jordan Adeyemi played his final game for the Royals at Malvern before returning home, and he signed off in the best way possible, on the scoresheet in a win over the league leaders. He leaves having been part of the most emphatic stretch of football the side has produced all year. Everyone at the club thanks him for his contribution and wishes him well for what comes next.
Two statement wins, a result at the home of the leaders, and a top-three chase that refuses to fade. The Royals return to Cross Keys Reserve next Friday night to face Werribee City, with every reason to believe the best of this season is still in front of them.