By Marcus Uhe
Adam Piddick’s return to his former home pitch of Port Melbourne’s SS Anderson Oval for the first time in Dandenong Thunder colours was not a happy occasion for the decorated former Sharks manager as his side was handed a 3-0 loss on Saturday night in National Premier League (NPL) Victoria football.
The Sharks opened the scoring in the first half and added two more in the second with Thunder unable to work their way back into the contest.
It was a fast-paced opening to the match between two attacking sides with plenty of firepower at both ends of the pitch.
Thunder pressed with a handful of chances from corners in the first half hour of the match, with a volley from Wade Dekker their best chance to put their noses in front, but was unable to convert.
While Thunder often went down the sidelines to create chances with crosses and long balls, Port Melbourne played a more direct style through the middle of the park to threaten the Thunder goal.
Thunder gloveman Pierce Clark was livid with his defence after sloppy marking allowed the Sharks a simple opener in the 36th minute.
A long ball threaded down the clubhouse side wing sprung a Sharks forward into space, who used it expertly to deliver a pinpoint ground ball for an unmarked Emmanuel Peters, having snuck his way into the centre of defence behind Daniel Alessi and in front of Mersim Memeti.
Peters made no mistake from close range, bagging his fourth goal of the season.
Jay Romanovski was centimetres away from levelling proceedings shortly after the halftime interval, but scrambling defence from the Sharks ensured the ball did not cross the goalline.
The Sharks’ precision ball skills were on show again for the second goal, this time taking an aerial route to double their advantage in the 70th minute.
An exquisite lofted through ball from the centre of the pitch lobbed perfectly onto the head of a darting Sharks’ forward on the left of Clark’s goal.
Clark closed the space in an attempt to snuff out the cross before it reached Marc Latsis, but was a fraction too slow in reaching the danger man, whose headed shot dropped into an empty goal mouth to give the Sharks their second.
The third strike had shades of the first, with Peters instead turning provider.
Thunder defender Ben Djiba wore a Sharks long shot on the body, with second half substitute Daniel Dixon setting off to chase down the deflection as it neared the end line, to prevent conceding a corner.
But coming from his blindside with Peters, sneaking in to pounce on Dixon and dispossess him before sizzling a ground ball to the six-yard box past Clark, where Andrew Mesourouni made no mistake with the tap-in.
Thunder made a charge in the second half, not content with letting the clock simply expire, but failed to take a handful of chances and left themselves exposed on the counter.
Long shots out of desperation was the primary method of attack, but proved unsuccessful time and again.
With three shots on target to the Sharks’ four, it will be a frustrating review for Piddick’s side, which will feel it was not a three goal worse side than their opposition.
Elsewhere in NPL action, Dandenong City was millimetres away from snatching a remarkable three points from then second-placed Hume City in a dramatic turn of events in the contest’s dying stages in Broadmeadows.
Having been pressed deep into its own defensive half due to mounting pressure from Hume, a last-ditch counter by Dandenong almost netted an inconceivable winner.
Seb Hernando dispossessed a Hume defender in the centre of the pitch, and crossed the ball to a trialing attacker at the top of the penalty area.
Neither side managed to do what they wanted with the ball, allowing for Damian Iaconis to lay the ball into space for a flying Thomas Giannokopolous on the right hand side.
He fired his shot at the near top corner, but was denied by the home side’s stopper with a brilliant save that typified the efforts of both gloveman on the night.
The match finished a scoreless draw, just the fourth of the NPL season to date, thanks in large part to the efforts of Dandenong City’s John Hall.
Hall produced a brilliant save to deny Hume City in the 28th minute as the visitors felt the heat from the home side early, and Kenny Athiu nearly put his side in front just after the half hour mark with a shot that edged over the crossbar.
Hume City fired 12 shots on Hall’s goal and five on target in the first 45 minutes but the City stopped held his own to keep his side in the contest.
The second half didn’t get any easier for Hall, who was impenetrable at the back with a handful of stunning saves that left Hume players with their hands on their heads in disbelief and frustration.
Tempers flared on multiple occasions during stoppage time as Dandenong City left Broadmeadows remarkably with a point to show for their efforts.
The fixtures don’t get any easier for City, who welcome top of the table South Melbourne to Frank Holohan on Friday night, with Thunder to tackle second-placed Avondale at George Andrews.
