Homegrown player Josh Kirkland scored for the Roos, joined on the pitch by 4 other homegrown players to start, five on the night
The Richmond Kickers (3-5-4, 13pts) fell 1-2 at home to Texoma FC (3-5-2, 11 pts). The home side featured six homegrown players, starting former academy players Beckett Howell and Griffin Garnett, along with Simon Fitch on the backline, former academy player James Sneddon in goal and home grown player Josh Kirkland up top. Kirkland would bury a beauty early but the squad ultimately couldn’t find another.
Richmond created their first opportunity of the night in the fourth minute, starting with a long ball from James Vaughan that found Simon Fitch who sent a cross into Josh Kirkland whose header fell just wide.
Seufert sent a long ball in the seventh minute up to Bolduc who was streaking down towards the baseline. Bolduc dribbled around a defender and sent a pristine cross into Kirkland who turned on the spot and rocketed the ball right past Texoma’s keeper for the first score of the evening.
In the 19th minute, Texoma would find the back of the net to level the match.
Richmond built numerous forceful offensive attempts throughout the rest of the half, entering the final third on multiple occasions, unable to find the back of the net but consistently applying pressure to Texoma’s defense.
In the final action of the half, Seufert floated a pass across the pitch to Bolduc, who was wide open on the run. Bolduc turned on the ball, putting a shot on frame but Texoma’s keeper just barely got a hand on it.
To open the second, Fitch won the ball and pushed over into Texoma’s half, looking to build a Richmond attack. Fitch stayed involved but a hurried cross attempt disabled the opportunity. Texoma tried to answer with an attack of their own but James Sneddon made the one-on-one stop to keep the score even.
Texoma earned a corner kick in the 67th minute. Richmond defended the set piece well as Sneddon claimed the ball, above his head, with ease. Immediately starting the buildup, Sneddon found Bolduc on the run who slowed it down sending the ball back to Fitch. Seufert made a beautiful run towards the end line, Fitch found him with the through ball but the cross back from Seufert just missed Kirkland open in the box.
A Texoma yellow card gifted Richmond a free kick in the 71st. Chandler O’Dwyer got a head to it but Texoma forced a corner kick. The corner fell to the feet of Josh Kirkland, but a Texoma defender kicked his striking foot, aiming for the ball, and it reverberated out of the box.
A Texoma attacker slipped through the Kickers’ defense and found the side’s second of the night in the 73rd minute.
The Kickers attack remained relentless in their push. In the 79th minute, Richmond built up the left side of the pitch. Darwin Espinal sent a pass to Adrian Billhardt, Billhardt returned it to Espinal. Then Espinal took space before he sent a cross in to Andrew Richman, who struck for the bottom right corner but sent the ball just inches wide of the right post in the final official chance of the evening.
