By Justin Schwarze
Inconsistency continues to be a big issue for Dandenong City as it fell at home against Heidelberg United 0-2 on Saturday night.
After a 5-0 thrashing of Green Gully in round 5, City have failed to score in their following two games.
Heidelberg looked extremely dangerous early with a deflection finding its way to the feet of Sebit Ngor inside the box, but Dandenong were let off the hook when he fired his shot over the bar from close range.
Ngor was on the break in the 20th minute, but he once again missed the target by pushing his attempt wide.
Valli Cesnik took matters into his own hands as he unloaded a rocket from distance for the hosts, but his shot was just on the outside of the post.
Despite plenty of chances from both teams, the scoreline remained 0-0 at halftime.
After the break, City won a free kick just outside the box in a promising position.
Thomas Giannakopoulos struck it wonderfully, which was met by an even better save from Yaren Sozer.
A few minutes later, Heidelberg were awarded a penalty due to a risky tackle from the City defence.
Both Jackson Lino and Cherif Aidara collided while going for the ball, but the referee pointed to the spot.
Bul Juach converted from the spot kick to give Heidelberg the 1-0 advantage after just over an hour.
The visitors weren’t done there, with a brilliant ball played into Asahi Yokokawa who had just the keeper to beat.
Yokokawa should’ve doubled Heidelberg’s lead, but missed everything on the shot.
Dandenong couldn’t respond as Jamie Latham misfired from inside the box in the 67th minute.
With just a few minutes remaining in the match, Diego Cuba was dispossessed in a vulnerable position by Jamal Ali who slipped in Anthony Lesiotis.
Pierce Clark came rushing out to meet him, but brought down Lesiotis as the Heidelberg attacker tried to go around Clark.
The referee immediately blew his whistle and it resulted in another penalty for the visitors.
Juach calmly slotted his shot past Clark to move Heidelberg to a 2-0 margin with just minutes left on the clock.
The full-time whistle saw City slip to ninth in the table, still with just one win.
Dandenong face a tough battle in a visit to South Melbourne in round 8.
