By JARROD POTTER
National Premier Leagues Victoria – round 4
WITH no love lost in this Greater Dandenong showdown, the much-wanted victory went Dandenong City’s way to take a 5-2 win over local rivals Springvale White Eagles.
It was a sedate affair heading into the break as Dandenong City managed to wrangle a solitary goal from Halil Gur, but it could have been two as Keegan Ziada had his penalty kick saved and the rebound volley sailed over the crossbar in the 18th minute.
Gur made amends for an earlier missed shot of his own by slotting the go-ahead goal in the 40th minute.
As interesting as the first half seemed, the second half alone justified the price of entry as Dandenong City rattled off four goals in a little under 10 minutes.
Dario Matkovic slotted in arguably one of the goals of the year so far, making his long-range free kick beat Springvale’s keeper Bojan Tomic.
Not to be left out of the second half theatrics, Springvale White Eagles slotted its first through Vojislav Milojevic in the 63rd minute to immediately respond positively to Matkovic’s stellar shot.
Dandenong City’s Raymond Lay added the next City goal instantly afterwards as the goal-mania continued unabated by the White Eagles’ defence.
Damien Miskulin put the match out of reach for Springvale with Dandenong City’s fourth before the icing on the cake was frosted by Goran Jozeljic after some amazing work hard up to the goal-line by Matkovic to make the assist.
Jamie de Smit got the best of Dennys Martin late in the match, with a bouncing ball goosestepping the City keeper, but all told it was a victory to savour for Dandenong and a defeat to immediately forget for the White Eagles.
“Today with a little determination they showed from the first minute that we want to win the game and feeling that a home win was a fantastic performance,” City coach Ivan Duzel said.
“To score five goals, and it could’ve been more, but I’m happy with what the boys showed today.”
Duzel highlighted the efforts of his speedsters up front – Damien Miskulin, Dario Matkovic and Keegan Ziada – and thought they would have great seasons in this league.
Dandenong Thunder faced Melbourne Knights on Sunday afternoon after the Journal went to print.
