Isgrove brace inspires dramatic comeback victory​ over Thunder

A late brace from Lloyd Isgrove has capped off an incredible comeback for Hume City as it picked up its first National Premier League Victoria points for the 2025 season with a 2-1 victory over Dandenong City Thunder.

Having gone down 1-0 just before the half time whistle, it took Hume City until the 82nd minute to get the equaliser through Isgrove before the Welshman sealed the points in injury time with a dramatic penalty.

In what was Hume’s first home game for the season, heavy rain and a stubborn Thunder defence prevented the team from finding an early breakthrough, while the visiting team’s dangerous attack constantly threatened to give Dandenong the edge.

In the last 10 minutes of the half, Dandenong applied the pressure on the Hume defence and and secured the opener through a lucky passage of play when Hassan Jalloh took advantage of the loose ball in the box and fired past Hume goalkeeper Michael Weier with just five minutes of regular time remaining in the half.

Not to be deterred, Hume came out firing after the break and took control of the game – creating a big chance just minutes into the second half before having a big penalty call disallowed.

Tensions blew over when Birkan Kirdar produced a big tackle on Yuki Uchida just before the hour mark, resulting in a yellow card for the Hume midfielder and the both teams to come together.

The incident only fuelled Hume City FC for the remaining third of the game and it was one-way traffic from there with Kirdar forcing an incredible save from Dandenong goalkeeper, Jamie Young shortly after.

Hume continue to dominate possession as the game continued but couldn’t find a way past the Thunder defence – the breakthrough eventually coming just eight minutes from time thanks to a silky move from Isgrove that saw him dance past a number of Dandenong defenders to slot the ball past Dandenong goalkeeper Jamie Young’s near post.

Isgrove then sent Nasiol Stadium into pandemonium 10 minutes later when a similar passage of play from the winger resulted in foul inside the Dandenong box and a penalty.

While there was a lot of chaos in the lead up to the kick, Isgrove made no mistake from the spot as he slotted the ball to the bottom right corner – securing a dramatic victory for Hume City and officially getting the team’s 2025 campaign off the ground.

Hume City’s next fixture is against Green Gully at Green Gully Reserve at 7:30pm AEDT on 21st February.