Richmond continued its impressive start to the season with a 5-1 demolition of the hapless Preston Lions on Friday night at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. The result means that Richmond has scored five goals in each of its last three encounters against the 2007 VPL Champions.

 

For the home side there were two goals each to Nick Kalombokis and Richie Cardozo with Michael Catalano scoring the other. For the visitors, Blaze Georgioski scored a late consolation goal and thus put an end to Richmond run of four matches without conceding a goal.

 

In Friday night's other match the Oakleigh Cannons hosted the Sunshine Georgies. In a tight and tense tussle it was the visitors who came away with a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Georgies captain, Wayne Wallace. It was the third consecutive 1-0 defeat at home for the Cannons and they will be hoping for a change of fortune when they host the Preston Lions next round.

 

Saturday saw a clash between two of the league's heavyweights as the Melbourne Knights paid a visit to Green Gully Reserve. Matches between these two teams never have a lot of goals and this time it was Green Gully who grabbed all three points with a late goal from 2008 Golden Boot winner, Pablo Cardozo. Man of the match was Cavaliers 'keeper Patric Ndongo who made a number of spectacular saves to preserve his team's perfect defensive record for the season.

 

Saturday also saw the Dandenong Thunder maintain its unbeaten start to the season as it defeated Hume City 2-1 in an entertaining clash at George Andrews Reserve. For the Thunder it was Sam Bailey and Ryan Davidson who got on the scoresheet whilst for the visitors Tansel Baser got a late consolation goal. The result sees the Thunder second on the table, behind Richmond on goal difference.

 

On Monday night, Heidelberg continued Altona's disastrous start to its title defence as they thumped the defending champions 4-0 at the Olympic Village. All four goals came in the second half with former Nigerian youth international, Osagie Ederaro scoring a brace with Graham Hockless and Marino Gasparis also joining him on the scoresheet. The loss leaves the Magic just one spot above the relegation zone and in dire need of a win or two.

 

The round concluded on Tuesday night as the struggling Whittlesea Zebras played South Melbourne at Bob Jane Stadium in what was a home game for the Zebras. The change of venue didn't result in a change of fortunes as South Melbourne ran out comfortable 3-1 winners condemning Whittlesea to their fifth straight loss. Goalscorers for South Melbourne were Goran Zoric, Fernando De Moraes and Gianni De Nittis whilst Brandon Vassallo grabbed Whittlesea's first goal of the 2009 campaign.