By Liam Coventry-Poole
Richmond and NTC have played out a 1-1 draw at Kevin Bartlett Reserve, in a match where chances were few and far between.
There were bizarre scenes early in the match when Ian Campelj replaced Erhan Karahan in the fourth minute, after Karahan received a yellow card for not handing over the ball for an opposition throw. Richmond probably didn’t want to risk Karahan receiving another card and being suspended, so he was substituted.
NTC opened the scoring in the 10th minute, courtesy of Matthew Thomas. Thomas unleashed a venomous strike from outside the box, which flew straight past Mason Interlandi in goals and into the back of the net.
The first 20 minutes were fairly quiet, with the exception of the goal, until Richmond registered their first chance on goal for the match.
Lachlan Small struck the ball from just outside the box with a decent effort, but was denied by a diving Luke Gavalas.
Richmond began to pressure the NTC’s back four, this time Joshua Kweifio-Okai with a close range headed effort, which was cleared off the line by a desperate Zoran Surdoski.
Kweifio-Okai was at it again a minute later, this time calling Gavalas into action, forcing a good save at his feet with close range shot from within the six yard box.
Kweifio-Okai continued his attack on the NTC area, shooting at goal for the third time in just three minutes. This time he couldn’t get it past his markers, well blocked by a barrage of NTC bodies in front of goal.
Kweifio-Okai didn’t hold back and was finally rewarded in the 27th minute. Christian Small was busy again, this time centring in a quick low cross into the box, which met a sliding Kweifio-Okai on the goal mouth, who had no problem this time, slotting home the equaliser on his birthday.
Things calmed down following the goal, but Richmond asserted their dominance on the proceedings, controlling possession in their attacking half. Unfortunately they couldn’t muster up any more chances before the break.
Richmond came out in the second half very much the same way they finished the first, holding the ball in midfield and allowing NTC very little space to manoeuvre any dangerous attacks.
Kweifio-Okai was looking dangerous again, sliding in for a mirrored chance to his earlier goal, but this time putting it just over the bar.
NTC finally made a dangerous break through the middle of the park. David Stirton was the man on the ball and carried it well until he reached the edge of the area, shooting well wide for a disappointing finish.
Substitute Liam Francis almost broke the deadlock in the 61st minute, shooting form within the 18-yard box, and going only inches wide of the far post.
The match continued with little flow, as both teams failed to open up the defence with any dangerous runs or counter attacks out of the defence. It was becoming a real midfield battle.
Liam Francis had another opportunity to take the lead in the 74th minute when he slid in and got onto a low cross from the right. He couldn’t get it on target and sprayed it narrowly wide.
It was clear that Richmond had become frustrated with proceedings when Ben Osei-Safo went wide from two speculative efforts from over 20 yards out, within two minutes.
Matt Waters came close to taking a late lead in the 82nd minute, when his effort from outside the box only just cleared the crossbar.
Richmond had the best chance of the game one-minute into stoppage time, counter attacking with four men onto two defenders after quickly clearing an NTC corner. The ball carrier, Lachlan Small, became overwhelmed with his options either side of him and gave the ball away with a poor attempted through ball into the box.
The final whistle marked the end of a very defensive performance by both sides, creating a minimal amount of chances at either end.
Next Wednesday night NTC face the Oakleigh Cannons at Jack Edwards Reserve, while Richmond faces South Melbourne on Sunday afternoon at John Cain Memorial Park, trying to hold onto the top spot of the Alanic Victorian Premier League ladder.
Richmond: Mason INTERLANDI (GK), Matthew GAUCI, Christian SMAK, Lachlan SMALL, Erhan KARAHAN (Ian CAMPELJ 4’), Joshua KWEIFIO-OKAI, Ross ANTONIADIS (Kyle CRAWFORD 46’), Matthew WATERS, Benjamin OSEI-SAFO, Dean CAMPELJ, Bobbie GAGOVSKI
Unused subs: Ben WEISCHUCK
Yellow cards: Erhan KARAHAN 3’
Goals: Benjamin OSEI-SAFO 27’
N.T.C line-up: Luke GAVALAS (GK), Andrew MULLETT, Curran FERNS, Robert NAUMOSKI, Joel BALDWIN, Matthew THOMAS, Errol KORKMAZ (Liam FRANCIS 56’), Zoran SURDOSKI (Luc JEGGO 56’), David STIRTON, John REALE, Peter SKAPITIS (Daniel CHAABANI 46’)
Yellow cards: Luc JEGGO 79’, Matthew THOMAS 85’
Goals: Matthew THOMAS 10’
Last updated: Thursday July 29, 2010 9:14AM
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