By Marcus Uhe
A towering header from Joshua Karantz completed a stunning Dandenong Thunder comeback in Saturday’s Victorian National Premier League (NPL) clash against Altona Magic in a dramatic contest that netted the Thunder their first victory of the new season.
Having trailed since the opening minute, a freekick from just inside the side line as regulation time expired found a charging Karantz, who turned the ball delicately into the bottom corner from close range, giving the Thunder a 3-2 lead at Altona’s Paisley Park, and resulting three points.
The Thunder was immediately on the back foot in the contest, courtesy of some sloppy defending in the opening minute.
Pierce Clark’s parried save was not cleared by his teammates, with a second cross at close range turned into the back of the net by Bul Juach.
Despite the Thunder dominating possession, the lead was doubled in the 34th minute courtesy of a stunning long-range strike from Mohammed Elhawli.
Elhawli stepped to his left and curled the ball into the bottom left corner from outside the penalty area, beyond Clark’s outstretched arms.
Dandenong managed to peg one back before the half, turning scrambling defence into success at the other end of the pitch.
Ali Sulemani came centimetres away from scoring a dreaded own-goal off a Clark save, but managed to track the ball down before it crossed the goal line and into Clark’s safe hands.
Clark’s clearance sprung a counter attack, finding Wade Dekker on the edge of the Magic penalty area with defenders to beat.
Dekker showed all his experience by calmly waiting for his trailing midfielders to provide reinforcements, who worked the ball to the opposite side of the box, where Jay Romanovski pulled the trigger with a cross.
This time it was the Magic defenders who failed to clear the danger, the ball finding Birkan Kirdar, who slotted his second goal of the campaign.
The score remained 2-1 in the Magic’s favour for much of the second half until Dekker levelled the scores with 10 minutes remaining.
A long ball from the back landed on Dekker’s chest amongst two defenders on the edge of the area.
Dekker dropped the ball to his feet and struck it on the bounce, too powerful for the fingertips of Ben Ratajczak in the Magic goal.
Altona then lost striker Darcy Anastovski after a high boot caught Daniel Alessi on the arm, and he was shown a second yellow card.
Capitalising on the numbers advantage, the Thunder snatched the lead late through Karantz, before surviving seven minutes of stoppage time to secure new manager Adam Piddick his first victory in red and black.
Conversely, cross-town rivals Dandenong City were unable to hold on to an early lead against Oakleigh Cannons at home on Friday night, settling for a 1-1 draw.
City struck first through Will Bower in the seventh minute, benefiting from an exquisite lofted pass from Michael Martinovic.
Bower snuck behind the Oakleigh defence before poking the ball beyond the Cannons’ goalkeeper with his right foot.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the visitors levelled the scores in the 21st minute.
Striker Alex Salmon was left unmarked and pounced on a cross from Stefan Valentini at close range.
Round 5 of the NPL will see City tackle the Melbourne Knights away and Thunder head to Oakleigh to face the Cannons.
