By Marcus Uhe
Dandenong Thunder’s defensive frailties were once again left badly exposed on Saturday night in yet another heavy defeat in the National Premier League (NPL) Victoria competition.
Thunder conceded four goals in a game for the third time this season, going down 4-0 at home to Altona Magic in a contest that will inflict further difficulty on their ability to qualify for finals action.
The visitors did much of the attacking in the opening half and the 33rd minute saw the deadlock shatter, as Stephen Lawless put the Magic ahead.
It was a perfectly placed through ball from the Magic back half that pierced its way through the Thunder midfield and defence, and into the stride of Lawless bearing down on Pierce Clark’s goal.
Clark got a hand to the strike, but it wasn’t enough to stop the ball from trickling over the line, to set the contest alight.
The best chance for the Thunder came in stoppage time, when Muamet Selimovski was denied by flying Magic goalkeeper Ben Ratajczak.
A powerful volley on Selimovski’s right foot from the penalty spot saw Ratajczak spring to life, and touch the ball over the crossbar just moments before the referee blew for half time.
Altona doubled the advantage in the 56th minute in a similar manner to the way it opened the scoring, as another threaded ball into space brought the defenders’ undoing.
Thunder’s Ben Djiba was edged out in the chase for the ball by Jawad Rezai with both hitting the ground as a result of the collision on the outskirts of the Magic’s penalty area.
Thunder had the numbers advantage, with Clark, Daniel Alessi and Aidan Edwards all converging on the lose ball, but Altona’s Bul Juach reached it first, and kept his head with chaos unfolding around him.
He dodged a sliding challenge from Alessi and poked the ball past a diving Clark’s fingertips into the net, showcasing why he has been one of the better strikers in the competition to date.
Lawless then made it 3-0 in the 69th minute, courtesy of a delightful volley.
A cross deep into the penalty was left by Clark for Jay Romanovski to head clear of danger, but his misdirected effort landed into the strike zone for the opportunistic striker on the edge of the penalty area.
He cocked his left leg back and swung his boot through the ball vigorously, into the bottom left corner of Clark’s goal to inflict further pain.
Number four for the magic came in the 84th minute, after Saad Moukachar danced his way through Thunder defenders and curled one into the top corner to inflict further pain on the home side.
The loss leaves Thunder stuck in eighth spot, but another loss for Manningham United in 12th position ensures a five-point gap remains between Dandenong and the drop zone.
A massive two weeks awaits for Dandenong with rivals Oakleigh Cannons and Dandenong City both coming to George Andrews Reserve over the next fortnight.
The clash against Oakleigh will be played behind closed doors on Saturday night, however, as a result of an incident between the two sides in a clash back in March that saw Football Federation Victoria impose sanctions on future fixtures between the clubs.
