By Justin Schwarze
Dandenong Thunder stormed into second place in the NPL table after defeating top-placed Avondale 2-1 at home on Saturday night.
Scoring was opened when a lovely one-two from Ben Djiba and Daniel Clark found Djiba streaking into the box.
Djiba used excellent physicality to hold off his defender, dribbling in deep and squaring the ball to Yuki Ushida, who turned and smashed the ball into the top of the net.
Just before halftime, the Avengers responded through a brilliant pass to a fantastic strike inside the box from Daniel Edwards that was steered past Dandenong keeper Jamie Young.
Edwards’ shot was the only attempt on target for Avondale in the entire half.
Thunder were in the same boat, with Ushida’s goal being the only accurate shot for Dandenong.
In the 79th minute, with the scores still locked at 1-1, the hosts earned themselves a corner.
The ball was sent in low and short, where Daniel Clark presented and flicked an odd attempt that curled through the defence and curved into the bottom corner.
The Dandenong crowd and Thunder players erupted with the delightful finish that gave the hosts the lead against a fierce opponent.
Dandenong defended very well for the final 15 minutes of the match, until they conceded a corner in the dying moments of the game.
The ball was sent in high, and even Avondale keeper Thomas Manos was down for the last opportunity to draw level.
It was Manos who got to the ball, but his shot was sent out by Thijs Van Amerongen and the follow up was deflected into the safe hands of Young.
When the referee blew his whistle for full-time, scenes broke out at George Andrews Reserve as Thunder handed the Avengers their first loss of the season.
Ushida was on the scoresheet for the second week running and Dandenong was on the winners list for the fourth week in a row.
Thunder propelled itself into second on the ladder with five wins, one draw and one loss, just two points behind leaders Avondale.
The club faces another test in round 8, travelling to play third-placed Oakleigh in a matchup with league leading goalscorer Joe Guest.
