By Justin Schwarze
A second-half strike left Dandenong Thunder victorious on their trip to Altona Magic in round four of the NPL season.
After dropping points late last week against bitter rivals Dandenong City, Thunder were looking to get back into the winner’s column.
The first half was relatively quiet, with neither team giving up massive chances.
Then, in the 40th minute, a long, aerial ball was played into Yuki Ushida who had space pressing forward.
As he tried to cut back onto his right foot, a late challenge from Altona defender Alexander Gust brought him down with the ball a few meters away.
The referee was quick to hand Gust his second yellow of the match for denying a goal scoring opportunity, and thus he was shown red, taking Altona down to 10 men for the remainder of the match.
Thunder were unable to convert the ensuing free kick.
Neither team scored as the halftime whistle blew.
After the break, a long through ball was received by Ali Sulemani for Thunder and he dribbled down the right wing.
A precise, squaring ball was perfectly placed into the box at the feet of an unmarked Wade Dekker who calmly slotted it into the top left corner from close range.
Dekker looked likely to help himself to a brace a couple of minutes later, controlling a pass from Mersim Memeti, leaving him with just one defender and the keeper to beat.
The last man back for Magic, Hiyori Kawaguchi, was able to deflect Dekker’s shot out for a corner as the last line of defence.
The rest of the match was played conservatively by Thunder, having both the advantage in numbers and on the scoreboard.
They only conceded one shot on target and one corner for the entire match, cruising to a 1-0 lead on the road that leaves them sitting seventh in the table.
It was a chippy game, with 34 fouls being committed and three yellow cards dished out to each team.
Thunder now have two wins, a draw and a loss in the league so far in their campaign.
Thunder will host seventh placed Heidelberg United in round five.
