Richmond Athletic proved how powerful they are in the second half of games this season with a 5-1 Chatham Cup football victory against Wakefield at Wakefield Domain on Saturday.
Wakefield were gritty and often defiant in the first half in front of a vocal section of home fans cheering them on from the pavilion.
The Nelson Bays division one leaders were expected to win comfortably, but Wakefield refused to follow the script in the first 45 minutes.
Richmond’s Logan de Joux opened the scoring with a header after 20 minutes only for Wakefield to respond two minutes later with a headed goal of their own, through John Kawala.
It took a second half hat-trick from Bertie Fish and another from De Joux to put the game beyond reach.
Up until then it had been scrambling defence and the ability of Wakefield goal keeper Hayden Ingham to make one-on-one saves which kept the home team in the tie.
Richmond midfielder Chester Gaskin also impressed with his workrate.
Richmond coach Matt Campbell paid tribute to Wakefield’s effort.
“They came out and were really dedicated to their cause and even at 3-1 down they pushed us.”
Matt says his team were guilty of too many cute first touches in the first half.
“We were being too fancy and you saw in the second half when we play direct and got the ball on the ground we started to find more space as the game opened up.”
Richmond will face FC Nelson in the next round of the Chatham Cup over Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
