Hume City FC overcame significant adversity on Friday night to claim an emphatic 3-0 victory over Dandenong City at Nasiol Stadium in its bid to secure a finals playoff for the 2025 NPL Victoria season.
Despite playing with just 10 men for more than a quarter of the match, goals to Lloyd Isgrove, Rob Harker and Mehmet Uysal helped Hume City move seven points ahead of their visitors on the overall standings.
With Halil Hussein stepping in for his first game as Interim Coach following the departure of Ric Marchioli, Hume City got off to an energetic start to the important clash, applying pressure on the Dandenong City defence.
The visitors also produced some half chances in the opening 10 minutes having played a number of balls into the Hume City box, however it was Rob Harker who had the best chance of the opening stint of the game, with a difficult one-on-one attempt off the back of a counter attack.
Both ends of Hume City were showcasing their quality as captain Harry Ascroft made an important tackle to prevent a big Dandenong chance, while Harker and Isgrove were providing a major hassle for the opponent’s defence, which included a decent shot on target from the former.
Birkan Kirdar then got in the action with a long-range effort that forced an acrobatic save from Dandenong City goalkeeper Pierce Clark shortly after to keep the team in the hunt.
While Clark was called into action multiple times for the visitors as Hume City pressed for an important goal in the first half, first-year goalkeeper Damien Camilleri made the biggest save of the game less than 10 minutes to half time, keeping a low and hard shot out of the goal.
Dandenong continued to pile on the pressure as they searched for their goal, however it was Hume City who went into the break on top after Isgrove scored in the final minute of stoppage time.
A throw-in from Forde saw Harker flick the ball onto Josh Okane who then produced a beautiful switch to a lonesome Isgrove, who took the ball into the Dandenong box and rolled the ball through the defender’s legs into the bottom right of the goal.
Unfortunately, Isgrove’s night would end early when he was substituted due to a big knock just before the hour mark, while Dandenong had the first big chance of the half when a corner was cleared off the line by Okane.
Less than a minute later, Camilleri made another crucial save as he tipped the ball over the bar from a Dandenong shot, before Hume City came close to a second when the ball looked to go over the line following a messy moment in the box from a corner.
A foul from Forde just outside the Hume City box resulted in a yellow card for the talented defender, and gave the away side an opportunity to equalise but the Hume City defence held firm to prevent any legitimate attack.
Just minutes later, Forde was given his marching orders after bringing down a player and receiving his second yellow card.
Incredibly, Hume City responded to the sending off by scoring almost instantly thanks to a beautifully executed transition from defence to attack as a through ball from Josh Bingham played Kirdar into the middle, with the latter charging towards the goal before playing a perfectly weighted ball to Uysal, who squared the ball off one touch into the path of a fast-charging Harker – the in-form striker making no mistake from directly in front.
Uysal himself sealed the victory midway through stoppage time having gotten on the end of a Kirdar switch during a counter attack and calmly slotted the ball past Clark.
The victory put Hume City back into fifth place in the standings, seven points clear of seventh place.
Hume City are back in action on Tuesday night for the seventh round of the Dockerty Cup against Nunawading City at Mahoneys Reserve from 7pm AEST.
Despite playing with just 10 men for more than a quarter of the match, goals to Lloyd Isgrove, Rob Harker and Mehmet Uysal helped Hume City move seven points ahead of their visitors on the overall standings.
With Halil Hussein stepping in for his first game as Interim Coach following the departure of Ric Marchioli, Hume City got off to an energetic start to the important clash, applying pressure on the Dandenong City defence.
The visitors also produced some half chances in the opening 10 minutes having played a number of balls into the Hume City box, however it was Rob Harker who had the best chance of the opening stint of the game, with a difficult one-on-one attempt off the back of a counter attack.
Both ends of Hume City were showcasing their quality as captain Harry Ascroft made an important tackle to prevent a big Dandenong chance, while Harker and Isgrove were providing a major hassle for the opponent’s defence, which included a decent shot on target from the former.
Birkan Kirdar then got in the action with a long-range effort that forced an acrobatic save from Dandenong City goalkeeper Pierce Clark shortly after to keep the team in the hunt.
While Clark was called into action multiple times for the visitors as Hume City pressed for an important goal in the first half, first-year goalkeeper Damien Camilleri made the biggest save of the game less than 10 minutes to half time, keeping a low and hard shot out of the goal.
Dandenong continued to pile on the pressure as they searched for their goal, however it was Hume City who went into the break on top after Isgrove scored in the final minute of stoppage time.
A throw-in from Forde saw Harker flick the ball onto Josh Okane who then produced a beautiful switch to a lonesome Isgrove, who took the ball into the Dandenong box and rolled the ball through the defender’s legs into the bottom right of the goal.
Unfortunately, Isgrove’s night would end early when he was substituted due to a big knock just before the hour mark, while Dandenong had the first big chance of the half when a corner was cleared off the line by Okane.
Less than a minute later, Camilleri made another crucial save as he tipped the ball over the bar from a Dandenong shot, before Hume City came close to a second when the ball looked to go over the line following a messy moment in the box from a corner.
A foul from Forde just outside the Hume City box resulted in a yellow card for the talented defender, and gave the away side an opportunity to equalise but the Hume City defence held firm to prevent any legitimate attack.
Just minutes later, Forde was given his marching orders after bringing down a player and receiving his second yellow card.
Incredibly, Hume City responded to the sending off by scoring almost instantly thanks to a beautifully executed transition from defence to attack as a through ball from Josh Bingham played Kirdar into the middle, with the latter charging towards the goal before playing a perfectly weighted ball to Uysal, who squared the ball off one touch into the path of a fast-charging Harker – the in-form striker making no mistake from directly in front.
Uysal himself sealed the victory midway through stoppage time having gotten on the end of a Kirdar switch during a counter attack and calmly slotted the ball past Clark.
The victory put Hume City back into fifth place in the standings, seven points clear of seventh place.
Hume City are back in action on Tuesday night for the seventh round of the Dockerty Cup against Nunawading City at Mahoneys Reserve from 7pm AEST.
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