By Rory Flanagan.

Nathan Knox came off the bench to smash home the winner two minutes from time as Dandenong Thunder maintained its 100% record this season with a 2-1 triumph over Hume City at George Andrews Reserve on a humid Sunday evening.

With a crowd of around 2000 passionate fans, the contest began at breakneck speed with fierce challenges aplenty and possession being surrendered relatively cheaply.

Dandenong had the first real opportunity after 10 minutes. An intelligent chipped through ball over the Hume City defence from Captain Veton Korcarevski set up Stephen Cooke who unselfishly passed to Mathew Theodore but his effort was blocked, with Cooke's follow up saved on the line by Lu Acevski.

Korcarevski’s deft touches and impressive ball control have been integral to Dandenong’s attacking play this season and he teed up Kyle Lapham with a first time knock down off his chest. The right back was unable to hit the target ‎however, shooting a metre over the bar from the edge of the area.

Stephen Cooke’s last start saw him take home the match ball, with a stunning hat-trick against St Albans.

The striker was eagerly anticipating any through balls and mishaps that came his way and on 22 minutes, he nearly made Hume pay the price for a poor defensive header but couldn’t beat Acevski one on one.

‎Back for another season with the Thunder, UK import Luke Sherbon cleverly knocked the ball over his man before his cross deflected off Slave Bozinovski, drawing Acevski into a save at his near post.

‎Making his 50th appearance for Dandenong, Stuart Webster was called into action for the first time on the 28 minute mark. Zoran Petrevski hit a low effort from distance forcing Webster to dive low to his left and beat the ball away.

Korcarevski could have put his side in front, but missed the target when he was forced to shoot quickly due to pressure from ex-Victory man Steven Pace.

With half time approaching, Dandenong opened the scoring in typical fashion. Veton Korcarevski leading the line weaved his magic inside the box before cutting the ball back towards the penalty spot where Luke Sherbon didn’t have to break stride, meeting the ball at full force leaving the Hume defence scrambling on the line with no chance as it rocketed into the back of the net.

As the two teams resumed following the interval, they both tried their luck with several efforts from distance but no-one had their radar working.

Hume hit back after 57 minutes in fortuitous and controversial circumstances. Steven Weir was fouled and the referee immediately pointed to the spot despite contact clearly occurring outside the area. Ross Thompson stepped up and slotted past Stuart Webster into the top right corner to restore parity between the two teams.

Continuing with the long range shooting theme, Petrevski struck a half volley but couldn’t keep his effort down and received his share of Bronx cheers from the Thunder crowd as it sailed over the bar.

Zoran Petrevski could have done better from Richard Cardozo’s delicious delivery from the left. He glanced his header a long way wide after being granted a free run at the ball.

Korcarevski was looking lively and after skinning his marker, he aimed for the far top corner but with half the ground thinking his effort would burst the net, it fizzed just wide.

For the second time in the match, Dandenong were left fuming at the referee. Again it was a question of inside or outside the box when a Hume player blatantly handballed.

This time a free kick was awarded when it should have been a spot kick. Nonetheless, Luke Sherbon adopted a Roberto-Carlos run up and hit a thunderbolt at goal only for Lou Acevski to pull off a stunning save and keep the scores level.

Nathan Knox made his debut off the bench for Dandy as he replaced Korcarevski on 81minutes after the skipper ran out of puff.
Steven Weir raced towards goal with five minutes left to play but a fantastic piece of defending from towering centre back Steven Gray – who was sensational all night - deflected the volley over the bar.

Spurred on by their home crowd, Thunder surged forward with all the momentum as Hume began to tire. Their pressure finally paid off two minutes from time when the ball dropped to Nathan Knox inside the area. The big man instinctively slammed the ball into the back of the net on the turn with George Andrews Reserve erupting in jubilation.

Zoran Petrevski let his frustration get the better of him as he crudely cut down Chris Taylor and received a yellow card as the match drew to a close.

As the referee blew for full time, huge cheers rang out with Dandenong recording their fourth successive victory.

Irish recruit Steven Gray shared his thoughts post game, “I thought everyone played quite well today. No one really stood out. Sherbs (Sherbon) played well, I thought Veton (Korcarevski) worked really hard and created a few chances for us.”

“Four games now four wins. Two clean sheets, should have been another tonight to be honest!”

When asked about the competition, he commented, “they’re all big games. I had a look on the internet before I came out here. All the teams are physical and can pass the ball around, so every game is tough.”

Gray reserved praise for the fans “they went mad when we scored that second goal! It’s great that we can get so many supporters behind us each week,” he said.

Dandenong host Heidelberg United next week on Saturday night at 7pm, while Hume entertains the potent Northcote City led by Trent Rixon on Sunday at 3pm.

Dandenong Thunder: Stuart WEBSTER (GK), Stephen COOKE (Liam KEARNEY 77’), Stephen GRAY, Shane REXHEPI, Kyle LAPHAM, Archie TOMIC, Luke SHERBON, Chris TAYLOR, Matthew THEODORE, Veton, KORCAREVSKI ((C )Nathan KNOX 81’)), Ben HARRISON (Jarryd BARNES 75’) Unused Subs: Alex ROJAS, Sermin SADIKOVSKI.

Goals: Sherbon 42’, Knox 88’.

Hume City: Lupce ACEVSKI (GK), Fabio DELIZIA (Mark MCGOUGH 75’), Steven PACE, Isiyan ERDOGAN (Michael BOSEVSKI 57’), Richard CARDOZO, Ross THOMPSON (Andy VLAHOS 65’), Zoran PETREVSKI, Slave BOZINOVSKI, Dusko DELIC, Steven WEIR. Phillip RICCOBENE. Unused Subs: Mark PISTINIZI, Kenny GEROH.

Goal: Thompson 57’ (P).

Yellow cards: Bozinovski 78’, Zoran Petrevski 90’.

Is that Nathan Knox the New Zealander that plays for Otago United also?