Three red cards, seven yellows, two stoppage time goals and a few handbags to boot, there was little left out on the park as the Suns chalked up a 2-1 away win over Essendon Royals.
Russell Currie’s 91st-minute goal should have been the sealer for a nine-men Suns side after Declan Kinnane’s first half effort, however, a late goal from Dean Clarke brought an already absurd game up to absolute fever pitch.
But with the final whistle sounding not long after, the Royals were pardoned and Suns coach Craig Carley was elated to notch the first three points since early June.
“Coming up against a decent Royals side that were on a good roll, it was brilliant to get back on the winners’ list to be honest,” Carley said.
“They’re obviously a quality outfit, we knew it was going to be a tough game after a difficult three weeks without a victory.
“It was a great resilient performance, everyone was switched on for the 90, 95 minutes, and it was a very pleasing result and performance.”
Played on a parched Cross Keys Reserve pitch, it was referee Momcilo Veselinov who was thirsty for drama as he awarded two straight reds from a melee sparked just six minutes into the contest.
Graham Kelly chopped Suns centre back Geordie Lelliott in an off-ball incident, with Matt Lelliott storming in to protect his brother.
Both were handed their marching orders and from there it was 10 on 10.
“The ref’s got it completely wrong and has tried to level it out by sending two players off when really it was nothing to do with our players,” Carley said.
“I feel a little bit for Matty there, but it just showed the courage that our boys had throughout the game and we weren’t going to back down from anything.
“They were completely switched on for the challenge.”
The Suns went 1-0 up on 20 minutes as Brandon Giaccherini weaved between two defenders and fizzed the ball to the back post to find Kinnane free, the youngster making no mistake from six yards.
Kinnane thought he had a brace not long after as he rounded the keeper off a Tutu Taya long ball, but was judged to be offside.
Some last-ditch defending down the other end kept the Suns’ noses in front going into the sheds and the game was by no means in the bag for Carley’s outfit in the second half.
Kinnane was handed a second yellow in the 76th minute reducing the Suns to nine and a stroke of genius from assistant coach Shaban Mehmet had Taku Hishida play a central midfield role which he took to like a duck to water.
As the clock ticked past 90 minutes, the Suns would get another reward.
With the Royals pushing desperately for an equaliser and throwing the heavies forward, Greg Nash curled a delicious pass from his 18 yard line up the guts for Currie to latch on to, round the keeper and knock home.
Essendon pulled one back at the death with former Sun Matthew Breeze’s looping ball eventually finding the head of Clarke for what was nothing more than a consolation.
Darcy Pawlik was named man of the match during the win, which lifts the Suns into third, three points astray of Caroline Springs George Cross.
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