Dandenong City’s fairytale run came to an agonising conclusion as Heidelberg United took the NPL title 2-1 at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday.
In front of a packed crowd that had the Albert Park venue rocking from kick-off, Heidelberg looked certain to land the first punch with a promising attack.
Cherif Aidara received the ball on the right and played a pinpoint pass into Jamal Ali right in front of goal.
It seemed Ali had the whole goal to aim at while Pierce Clark scrambled but Jack Webster lunged in courageously and knocked the ball away, denying a clear goalscoring chance.
On the other end, Timothy Atherinos nearly came up with something special, gliding through multiple United outfield players and finding space to shoot, but his shot was tipped wide by a desperate Yaren Sozer.
On the ensuing corner, Atherinos got a low-speed shot away and Sozer dealt with it, but the rebound bounced over to Gaku Inaba.
Inaba went for the overhead kick and struck it beautifully, but Sozer was able to get a hand to it and flick it away before the ball fully crossed the goal line in one of the saves of the season.
Right on the eve of halftime, Heidelberg went forward with a tremendous chip pass from Ben Collins finding the danger man Bul Juach in behind the City defence as the striker timed his run exceptionally.
Clark decided to come off his mark and attempt to meet Juach as he controlled the ball but collided with his body in the penalty area, leaving the referee no choice but to blow his whistle and point to the spot.
Despite Clark guessing correctly on which side Juach would shoot, he absolutely buried his penalty to give United the breakthrough and 1-0 advantage in the 43rd minute.
City managed three shots on target in the first half, while Heidelberg had just one but controlled the scoreboard.
In the 53rd minute, United doubled their lead when Max Bisetto unleashed a rocket into the bottom-right corner.
He cut back onto his right and curled his shot to bounce once and rattle the back of the net, sending the Heidelberg fans into delirium.
However, Dandenong responded just two minutes later.
The ball came into Will Bower on the left and he opted to centre a grounded pass to a streaking Atherinos.
Atherinos fired a bullet from his first touch and placed his shot perfectly to the left, guiding it past a diving Sozer to draw one back.
But from there, City wasn’t able to muster up any lethal attacks as Heidelberg parked the bus and went defensive, making finding an equaliser a near impossible task against the league’s best defence.
Dandenong coach Nick Tolios made the first two substitutions of the game in the 71st minute, taking out two defensive midfielders – Danny Kim and Tom Giannakopoulos – for more attacking-minded players in Brad Plant and Diego Cuba.
It changed the momentum of the game as Plant almost made an instant impact, firing straight at Sozer from long-range barely a minute after entering the fray.
Atherinos then turned provider for Kenny Athiu three minutes later, but the former Heidelberg legend could only fire wide with his half chance.
While a speculative free kick from wide by Latham in the 76th minute was on target, but Sozer was up to the task yet again, forcing the ball away for a corner.
“To my boys, it was an amazing season,” Tolios said post-game.
“Keep your head up…nobody gave us a chance, but we pushed Heidelberg all the way.”
After nine minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew his whistle, sending the Heidelberg players and supporters into ecstasy and celebration.
Dandenong was devastated but it’s been an unforgettable season for Tolios’s men.
The team fought its way into the last finals spot through the end of the regular season and caused two major upsets to earn itself a spot in the grand final.
Then, a very good contest left City just two goals away from the silverware.
They came in as the underdogs just like they were down the entire final stretch of the campaign and just battled extremely hard but just fell short.
