What appeared to be a midseason revival from Dandenong Thunder in the last fortnight may ultimately prove to be a flash in the pan after suffering a 2-0 loss to Heidelberg Warriors on Friday night.
The contest pitted the competition’s second-best defence against the worst attack for goals scored through 15 weeks, meaning Thunder was always going to have their work cut out for them against a competition heavyweight.
Thunder settled first and had the first chance of the game through Jay Romanovski, who’s shot from the edge of the penalty area had too much elevation in the third minute of action.
It took the Warriors just 12 minutes to open the scoring, however, as Thunder’s unstable defence was left exposed again.
A secondary attack from a corner kick lobbed dangerously into the penalty area, where an attempted clearing header only reached the edge of the box.
Mersim Memeti and Sevdim Ismaili both contested the cross, which spilled to defender Benjamin Collins, who finished at the back post with a low dart past Pierce Clark.
A sprinkling of rain greased the pitch midway through the half and added an injection of speed to the contest as the ball became difficult to control at stages.
Daniel Dixon was busy on the left wing for Thunder and did his best to create chances with some sharp runs near the touchline but lacked the quality ball into the area required to help put his side on the board.
Captain, Ali Sulemani had the pick of the chances to peg one back in the 34th minute, but could not convert on a pair of opportunities thanks to some scrambling defence from the Warriors.
Having bisected a pair of Warriors defenders in pursuit of a lofted through ball, Sulemani took possession on the run, but the need to prop and steady allowed a previously beaten defender enough time to close and block his right footed shot.
The rebound came back to Sulemani but he failed to convert, losing balance after striking with his left.
Heidelberg doubled the lead shortly before the half time whistle in near carbon copy of the opener.
Clark dealt with the corner’s initial cross before the home side recovered possession and sent another ball from the right wing back into the danger area.
The ball reached the back post where a strike was fired from the identical spot Collins’ was, but Clark got his hand to the shot with a brilliant reflex save.
The rebound created a lose ball in the six yard box, however, and Heidelberg pounced, to go 2-0 ahead in the 39th minute.
Clark was brilliant in the second half, with some textbook saves under immense pressure from the home side pressing for a third goal.
His teammates, meanwhile, failed to stay onside with a number of runs, with leading scorer Wade Dekker’s absence acutely felt.
In typical Thunder fashion, they continued to manufacture forward thrusts and work the ball to goalscoring locations despite the deficit, showing an admirable fight and effort.
Tensions threatened to boil over in the dying stages in a contest involving Aidan Edwards, Daniel Alessi and Heidelberg striker Kaine Sheppard.
Edwards beat Sheppard in a one-on-one, with Alessi taking exception to Sheppard’s physicality and remonstrating on Edwards’ behalf.
The two had to be separated and both were shown yellow cards, taking Alessi’s caution count for the season to eight, with one in his last four matches.
After picking up four points in the last two weeks and appearing to get their season back on track, this was a loss Thunder could ill-afford, given their proximity to the drop zone.
Thunder hosts Altona Magic on Saturday night.
