A ruthless Melbourne Victory recorded an emphatic 6-3 win over Richmond SC in an engaging PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria affair on Friday night.
Four first-half goals sent Victory on its way, before it finished the job with two further second-half strikes at Kevin Bartlett Reserve.
Sixteen-year-old Sebastian Pasquali stood out for the visitors, notching up a hat-trick on his PS4 NPL Victoria starting debut.
It took Victory just six minutes to open the scoring when George Howard got on to the end of a pinpoint Joey Katebian cross to bury the ball into the net.
Victory was at it again two minutes later, courtesy of a number of deft touches from Katebian, who followed up with a thunderous left-footed strike beyond the Richmond goalkeeper’s outstretched hand.
The hosts hit back through Hamlet Armenian, who tucked away Liam Flynn’s textbook delivery from the left flank in the 20th minute.
But Victory responded with a double blow of its own prior to half-time and had Pasquali to thank for its third and fourth goals of the night.
Pasquali was attentive enough capitalise on a loose ball for his side’s third, before he neatly rounded the opposition goalkeeper to make it 4-1.
Jake Barker-Daish nabbed one back for Richmond eight minutes after the interval from the penalty spot, but it was Pasquali who restored Victory’s three-goal buffer from close range.
Armenian added his second for Richmond, though Victory had the final say as Katebian rounded off his team’s comprehensive display by scoring a clinical penalty.
Victory returns to Epping Stadium to host Hume City in its next PS4 NPL Victoria match on Saturday, March 26.
Earlier, Victory’s under-20 team scored in the final minute of regulation time to draw 3-3 against Richmond.
Seniors
Richmond SC 3 (Armenian 20’/85′, Barker-Daish 53′ pen)
Melbourne Victory 6 (Howard 6′, Katebian 8’/90+2′ pen, Pasquali 37’/45+1’/74′)
Under-20s
Richmond SC 3 (Trajkoski 59′, Cesnik 68′, Beninati 86′)
Melbourne Victory 3 (Sette 14′, Cavallo 18′, Stanisavljevic 89′)
