Dandenong Thunder will be ruing its performance in round 21 of the NPL after the club surrendered a 3-0 lead and settled for a 3-3 draw against Oakleigh at George Andrews Reserve.
The home side drew the first blood early as in the eighth minute Thunder went forward with a strong attack.
Keeper Jamie Young played a short pass to Thijs Van Amergonen deep in the back for Dandenong, before the defender lobbed a precise long ball over everyone that played in Daniel Clark on the wing.
Clark dribbled into the box and stopped on a dime, causing his defender to lose footing, before cutting back onto his left boot and belting his shot past the goalkeeper.
Thunder were flying and made it 2-0 in the 24th minute after a lovely through ball from Clark found the streaking Yuki Uchida.
Uchida placed his shot perfectly as the keeper scrambled out of goal and Uchida followed by celebrating in front of the home fans.
But it was just the beginning, as a complete calamity from Oakleigh saw Dandenong score again, less than two minutes later.
After the Cannons lost possession, Mersim Memeti played a long ball that appeared that it would be easily swallowed up by the Oakleigh defence.
However, the two defenders and keeper didn’t communicate and none properly went for the ball, allowing Wade Dekker to sneak in and chip it over the head of the goalkeeper and into the net.
The visitors got one back in the 32nd minute with Adem Duratovic poking in a low cross at the near post.
When the referee blew his whistle for halftime, Thunder had converted on all three of its shots on target, while the Cannons had shot one and scored one.
For most of the second half, Dandenong kept it safe and made sure Oakleigh didn’t get a sniff.
But the visitors would claw out another goal in the 75th minute when a deflected ball fell to the feet of Kingsley Sinclair, who drilled a volley into the top left corner from the edge of the box.
Things turned from bad to worse when Cameron McGilp was brought down in the penalty area and the referee pointed to the spot.
Joe Guest calmly slotted the penalty into the bottom corner, completing the comeback and crushing Thunder.
The point means Dandenong remains in third with a trip to Port Melbourne on the cards for round 22.
