The clash kits were out as the Lilydale Eagles headed up the highway to take on Healesville.
The Reserves were looking to continue their fight for second spot in the league while the Firsts were aiming to upset their second-placed rivals.
In the farewell games for Arno Grote and captain James ‘Becks’ Laine, the Eagles got off to a bright start, looking dangerous going forward.
The deadlock was broken in the 11th minute when Callum Ludwig broke down the right-hand side and put in a cross for Grote, who got an inventive flick goalward which the Healesville keeper kept out. The ball spilled clear and eventually made it to Byron Loveless on the edge of the box whose shot took a slight deflection but ended up in the bottom corner to open the scoring.
The Eagles thought they had a penalty shortly after when Tarin Cooper was taken out by the goalkeeper which the ref agreed with at first glance before reversing his decision after consulting the linesman.
Healesville got their best looks on goal by looking long over the back of the Eagles’ defence but Lilydale were able to repel most of their efforts.
Healesville’s first big chance came when they mustered a shot which hit the back of their own player, who Lilydale believed was offside. In the scramble, Healesville got to the rebound and fired off a shot from close range which Daniel ‘Dicko’ Dickson did well to save.
Lilydale’s attacking endeavour slowed later in the half but they looked solid until in the 45th minute, Dylan Donovan’s attempted clearance was met by a Healesville player, resulting in a heavy collision that left Donovan on the floor in pain. Lilydale tried to clear their lines again but that was also blocked and eventually the ball was funnelled out to Chris Bloinck, whose curling shot found the back of the net with the last kick of the half.
The Eagles came out with intent after the half and took back the lead in the 50th minute when Becks found himself with space on the left-hand side. The keeper got a hand to it before inadvertently knocking the ball backwards into the net, though the goal was still fortuitously awarded to Becks.
In the 57th minute, Loveless earned himself some good karma after he finally set up Tarin Cooper to tuck in the Eagles’ third at the near post, making some inroads to forgiveness after having unintentionally stolen goals from Cooper in recent weeks.
The Eagles continued their ascendancy with some other early half-chances but were unable to capitalise.
Things heated up in the 73rd minute when Grote earned a yellow card for a late challenge, which was followed up by Healesville’s Ben Shannon picked up one himself only minutes later for a late foul on Dicko. This sparked a bit of biffo with players coming in to remonstrate, including the Eagles’ Mark Vanderkolk before he was bowled over shortly after.
Dicko then picked up a yellow card of his own when he handled the ball just outside the penalty area unintentionally, but the Eagles survived the resulting indirect free kick.
The Reserves were able to see out the match comfortably.
The Firsts took the field in the blue clash kit and looked to have gone behind early when a header from a free kick found attacker Daniel Tadesse whose improvised finish found the back of the net, but he was ruled to have strayed offside.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, Dicko misjudged a bouncing ball in the 12th minute and was beaten to it by Healesville striker John-James O’Connell, who was able to hold Dicko off and finish into the bottom corner.
The Eagles tightened things up after that and were able to keep Healesville mostly at bay, with their best chances coming from corners to the back post, which the Eagles were able to clear and one shot which Ludwig was able to get a hand to and tip over.
Unfortunately for Lilydale, their issue was being unable to create many chances of substance and the scoreline remained the same at the break.
Lilydale came out and looked to be more attacking in the second half and started to find more time and space on the ball closer to the final third.
A few half-chances came and went but the Eagles continued to lack the final killer ball, with neither a pass or cross to create a big chance or a shot that found the target forthcoming.
Lilydale looked solid enough defensively, a positive sign, but that was disrupted in the 77th minute when a Healesville corner to the back post finally paid off after it was headed back across goal and then knocked home by David McInnes.
In the 85th minute, the Eagles were given a lifeline when a back-post ball of their own ended up finding the head of Kaiden Deany-Smith who made it 2-1 and sparked hopes of a comeback.
Unfortunately, these were snuffed out in the 89th minute when Dicko and Lachy Hamling didn’t communicate effectively to deal with an aerial duel, resulting in the ball dropping for O’Connell who tipped it over the onrushing Ludwig before running onto it and sealing the game.
The Eagles will be back in action away against Maroondah United next week.
