Goulburn Valley Suns have been royally pardoned.
As the Victorian Premier League Two turned the bend on the season’s second half, the Orangemen were unravelled by Essendon Royals after holding parity at Cross Keys Reserve for the first 45 minutes.
A Callum Schorah pearler speared the Suns 1-0 ahead early on, but the Royals were able to produce an equaliser and two more for good measure to walk away with a 3-1 win.
Remarkably, Saturday’s loss — the third in four weeks — hasn’t altered the Suns’ ladder placing.
But as Craig Carley’s side now clutches onto the VPL2's 10th rung, just two points outside of the dropzone, the pressure levels have been cranked up tenfold with three more games left on the Suns’ mammoth run of seven away fixtures on the spin.
It could’ve all been so different, too.
Though the Suns scrapped and scraped for any sliver of possession in the opening arm wrestle, Englishman Schorah made it his prerogative to pick up where he left off from the week prior.
The crafty midfielder controlled a high ball inside Essendon’s half, skipped past one marker, then completed a one-two with Elijah Brooker by elegantly stroking it home from outside the box.
Fifteen minutes later, though, the Royals’ own foreign phenom levelled the pegging.
Jordan Adeyemi pounced on a loose ball inside the Suns’ box, swivelling and sending a thundering strike goal-bound, which rippled the net midway through the first half.
At 1-1, the game hung in the balance.
But the battle soon tipped uphill when Graham Kelly’s long-range effort flew past Suns custodian Niki Kitabatake early into the second stanza.
Adeyemi went on to double his tally on the other side of half time, skidding into the penalty area and jinking past his man before caressing the ball past Kitabatake once more for a 3-1 lead.
That’s how things ended for the Suns and the task doesn’t get any easier this coming weekend as they prepare to meet promotion contender Brunswick Juventus.