Southgate 4’s vs Richmond 3’s

Score 3-2

Scores: Rich Martins and Zech Mengrani

MoM – Sam Levene

DoD – Freddie Trathen

The atmosphere before the game was tense but optimistic as it was a must win game for the Southgate 4’s. The opposition was on the same amount of points separated only on goal difference.  After a team talk we pushed back and quickly got some close chances, putting the opponent under some early pressure and increasing the moral for the Southgate side. Not much later Rich was put through on goal with a bobbly ball and turned it into a goal of the season contender, chipping it up, then lobbing it over the keeper as he was running out. 

At this point Southgate were fully dominating the Richmond side as they were barely ever getting it out of their own half. They were quickly getting shut down by the defence and midfielders who were on it from the start. With about 15 minutes left to go of the half Southgate were threatening the Richmond goal once more. This time Lik received the ball on the outside of the D and swiftly pushed it hard towards the back post where Zech was waiting to tap the ball home.  Half time came and Captain Alessandro was happy with the first half and wanted more of the same. As the whistle blew to start the second half Richmond had turned a new page and were back in business. Richmond started to gain momentum and get more chances putting Southgate under pressure. The increased chances produced a string of spectacular saves from Sam Levene keeping Southgate in with a chance of the lead. As the battle intensified Southgate resorted to darker arts which were not appreciated by the umpires, resulting in Southgate being on 9 to 10 men for the majority of the last 20 minutes. Richmond then took advantage of these violations to score two quick goals and level it up.  With 5 minutes to go we were back to 11 but mortally wounded. In the dying moments of the game we finally succumbed to a brilliant finish from Richmond to end the game 3-2.