Gallery | Goulburn Valley Suns dragged down by Essendon Royals in dramatic turn of events

The Suns hosted Essendon in round 11 of the Victorian Premier League Two, and despite matching the Royals for 90 minutes, crucial decisions cost the Orangemen dearly to the tune of a 3-1 defeat.

Liam Kielty’s headed opener was cancelled out by Royal Dean Clarke, opening the door for the visitors to tack home with a wet sail in the second half — although not without controversy.

A dubious elbow in the lead-up to Essendon’s second goal, paired with a Suns penalty call waved away, left coach Craig Carley dismayed when reflecting on the loss.

“I thought it was a very even match, it was a good game from two even teams,” he said.

“I don’t think there was much between it, but it was disappointing to come off (on) the wrong end.

“It’s just about managing those moments and not getting the luck of the green in decisions in build-ups to goals.

“On reflection, a draw probably would’ve been a fair result, but full credit to Essendon, they’re certainly one of the better teams we’ve faced this season.”

The Suns, returning after a weekend off, would have been quietly confident storming out of the tunnel pre-game.

Building fortress status at McEwen Reserve, four wins and a draw prior to Saturday made the Suns’ home record the league’s best, and Kielty’s 19th-minute opener heightened the sense that five unbeaten games would soon turn to six.

Kielty rose highest to glance in Callum Schorah’s corner expertly — but the lead barely lasted 10 minutes.

Royals winger Clarke rippled the net with a thundering drive from outside the box as the half-hour mark approached, and with scores locked at 1-1 by half-time, the stage was set for either side to take the spoils.

Which is precisely what Essendon did.

Takumi Niwa put his side ahead in the 71st minute after bundling home an initial shot saved by Suns keeper Ashton Bonsall — though it was an incident in the build-up that had Carley’s head in his hands.

Essendon midfielder Graham Kelly left Suns’ counterpart Callum Schorah bloodied with a stray elbow, waved away by the referee despite the travellers scoring directly from the move.

The hosts’ woes were compounded five minutes later when Julian Guzzardi’s speculative effort was mishandled by Bonsall and trickled through, and to add insult to injury, a Suns penalty shout was denied, deemed to be ‘minimal contact’ by the ref.

It stung — bad.

And though Carley suspects his side is becoming slightly one-dimensional in the final third, there is no time to rest.

“We know where we’re sitting and we know what our objective is for the season,” he said.

“Every game in our division is a big game, and if we don’t turn up, then we will get turned over like we’ve seen in seasons gone by.

“We’ve got a cup game against Dandy City and then we’ll focus our attention to Werribee who themselves are a decent side.

“It’s time for us now to start stringing some results together and getting a bit of consistency in our game.”

The Suns will enter round five of the Australia Cup on Tuesday night, taking on National Premier League outfit Dandenong City at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex.

City boasts former Melbourne Victory striker Kenny Athiu, who is fresh off a hat-trick on Friday night, but after taking down an NPL opponent in round four, Carley is keen to test his side against one two tiers higher once again.

“Hopefully we can put our best foot forward and get a result — that’s certainly the objective,” he said.

“We want to make the national stage and we’ll do what we can to give ourselves the best opportunity to do that.”