Everywhere Eltham Redbacks go, the same story follows them. The Brexit team. The side that will get found out. The club that has risen too fast and will come unstuck when the real football starts.
Monday night at the Veneto Club was supposed to be a reality check. Bulleen Lions, under new coach Iacopo La Rocca, hosting their first home match of the season against the newly promoted visitors from Eltham. Instead, the Redbacks tore the script up within 60 seconds.
Lewis Collins needed just one minute. One. From the opening whistle, Eltham went end to end, and Collins buried it to send the travelling supporters into raptures before Bulleen had even touched the ball. It was a statement of intent that set the tone for everything that followed.
Bulleen tried to respond, but Eltham were composed in possession and aggressive without it. Jack Butts picked up a yellow card on the half-hour mark as the contest heated up, and Tremayne Sadler was forced off at the 20-minute mark with Josh Millar coming on, but none of it disrupted Eltham’s rhythm.
As the first half wound down, Billy Romas delivered the dagger. Rhys Moxon turned it over under pressure, and the ball fell perfectly into Romas’ path. Isolated against James Wilson, the former Bulleen man cut back one way, then the other, and slotted it home in the 42nd minute. 2-0 at the break. Against his old club. Of course it was him.
The half-time whistle brought frustration for Bulleen. La Rocca made a double change at the break, throwing on George Karvounis and Jamie Mantelos to try and shift momentum. The Bulleen coach himself picked up a yellow card early in the second half as tensions boiled over. Five bookings across the match told the story of a Lions side that simply could not handle what Eltham were doing to them.
If the first two goals showed Eltham’s clinical edge and tactical discipline, the third showed something else entirely. In the 54th minute, Josh Dennett collected the ball from distance and unleashed an absolute thunderbolt that gave Wonsuk Choi no chance. 3-0. Game over.
This was the goal that should shut down every lazy narrative about Eltham being a team that just rolls its sleeves up and scraps. Dennett’s strike was pure quality. The kind of goal that gets replayed for weeks. And it came from a side that had already dominated Bulleen not just physically, but technically. With the ball at their feet, Eltham were the better team in every department.
Connor Bell, the former Preston forward finding his feet at Bulleen, pulled one back in the 82nd minute to make it three goals in three games for his new club. Bulleen threw everything forward in the final minutes. Lucas Vaz had a shot cleared off the line, Yug Gandhi drove forward, and Dante Conte tested Abdulkerim Koc from distance. But the Eltham captain was equal to it, and his defence held firm.
The final whistle confirmed what the first minute had already suggested. Eltham Redbacks 3, Bulleen Lions 1.
Two promotions in two years. Back-to-back wins in VPL 1, including their first away victory at this level. Third on the ladder after three rounds.
Eltham Redbacks do not care what you call them. They do not care if you underestimate them. Alan Mulcahy’s side just keeps turning up, keeps competing, and keeps winning football matches.
The rest of the league has been warned. Again.