Dandenong Thunder had to settle and share the points after drawing 1-1 with Avondale in round 20 of the NPL.
Dandenong was away in the fixture, visiting the Avengers at Avenger Park on Saturday afternoon.
Avondale was the first to score and hit the front entering halftime after a solid team effort ensured the hosts found the back of the net.
Yitayew Towns was able to brush off a tackle on the edge of the box and dribble along the end line while creeping towards goal.
He suddenly squared the ball which made it through to Luca Tevere, who was free to run onto it and belt it home from close range.
At halftime, Avondale had fired 10 shots with five on target, while Dandenong also managed five shots on target from six attempts at goal.
Thunder found their equaliser in the 64th minute when Thijs Van Amerongen came up through midfield and intercepted a pass from the Avengers’ defence.
He laid it off to striker Wade Dekker who utilised a clever spin and back flick to play in superstar winger Yuki Uchida.
Uchida used some dazzling footwork and dribbling to cut back onto his right before slamming his shot into the near bottom corner.
Once again Uchida came to the rescue for Dandenong, with his goalscoring coming at pivotal moments this season.
From there, neither team was able to take back the lead and the highly anticipated top-of-the-table clash ended in a stalemate.
Thunder had a much stronger attacking second half, finishing the game with eight shots on target from 13 total.
Avondale also fired 13 shots, with seven of them being accurate.
With both teams earning a ladder point, the Avengers stay in second and keep Dandenong at the same margin of five points.
Yet another challenge awaits Thunder in round 21, with the club heading home to face fourth-placed Oakleigh Cannons.
Oakleigh trails Dandenong by three points in the table but has a better goal difference, so this essentially becomes yet another six-pointer for Thunder.
