JBNPL Wrap-Up | Round 1 v Eltham Redbacks

Essendon Royals kicked off its third campaign in the Junior Boys National Premier Leagues with four solid performances against Eltham Redbacks at the club’s temporary home of JH Allan Reserve on Sunday.

The Royals – who will hope for their first full and uninterrupted JBNPL campaign – compete in the North Division during the JBNPL Pre-Qualification Campaign, and started the season with three out of four wins.

The under-14s kicked off the day with a strong performance in a 3-1 win.

The Redbacks were unfortunate to concede two own goals during the game, however, the goals were just rewards for the quality of play from the Royals.

The own goals came in the fifth and 35th minutes of the game and sandwiched Kaelan Galea’s first-half goal.

In the under-15s, the Royals created a host of chances in a game that saw some great passages of play.

Unfortunately, a last-minute penalty to the Redbacks gave the visitors the chance to seal the win, leaving the Royals empty-handed on the day, but with plenty of positives to take from the performance.

The under-16s turned in an outstanding first-half to go into the break 4-0 up.

The Redbacks fought hard in the second half and created some good opportunities but only took one as the game finished 4-1.

The Royals goals came from Orlando Gomes (2), Oscar Ferrante and Jonathan Alveras.

In the final game of the day, a last-minute goal from Fabian Fotopoulos sealed the win for the Royals under-18s as his strike sealed a 2-1 win in an exciting game of football.

Shabir Sawiz had opened the scoring to put the Royals a goal to the good before the Redbacks equalised in the 88th minute.

All games were played in a fantastic, competitive spirit by both clubs.

The Royals travel to Moreland City for Round 2 next week.