By Justin Schwarze
Dandenong Thunder had the perfect response to last week, rallying to a 5-1 thrashing of Port Melbourne at home in round 9 of the NPL.
Thunder struck first early, with star midfielder Daniel Clark intercepting a poor back pass from the Port Melbourne defence.
Clark carried the ball into the box and drew a defender before squaring a pass to the dangerous Hassan Jalloh, who’s shot was blocked.
On the follow he was able to keep possession and lay off a pass to Jay Romanovski, who fired a low shot that was deflected into the back of the net.
The goal gave the hosts a 1-0 lead after 23 minutes.
Dandenong came close to doubling the lead when a brilliant ball from Mersim Memeti found Wade Dekker unmarked at the back post, and he fired an absolute missile that rattled the crossbar.
However, just moments later, Thunder were able to win possession back through Kyle Taylor, who quickly passed to Jalloh.
Jalloh touched it back to Taylor, who then found Dekker, and Dekker quickly sent a through ball back into Jalloh, who was streaking in behind.
Jalloh ran onto it and struck it beautifully off his first touch, carefully placing the shot into the bottom right corner of the goal, giving Dandenong a 2-0 advantage just before halftime.
Out of the break, it was Port Melbourne that threw the first punch.
After a foul in a dangerous spot for Thunder, the visitors were awarded a free kick just outside the box.
Delarno Pharoe was trusted, who brilliantly snuck his shot high and wide of the wall and past Jamie Young to get his side back into the game.
However, Dandenong would respond just five minutes later through a set piece of their own.
A corner was launched in, which was met by a header from Thijs Van Amerongen that couldn’t quite get it over the line.
After a series of deflections, Taylor got his name onto the scoresheet by turning the ball in near the goalline.
Thunder could sense the knockout blow, and Jalloh was determined after using his blistering pace to get the ball on the break and dribble towards goal.
He placed a well-weighted pass through to Dekker who slid his attempt past the keeper to push the lead to 4-1 at the 61 minute mark.
Finally, Jalloh decided to go himself and used some crafty dribbling to split a pair of Sharks defenders, before rocketing his shot into the back of the net to cap off a day out for Dandenong.
The goal was Jalloh’s sixth of the season, good enough for tied second out of all players.
Thunder cemented their spot in the top four with the result, with a visit to Melbourne Knights upcoming in round 10.
