Hume City FC has moved into the top three on the NPL Standings after a big 3-1 win over Dandenong Thunder at Nasiol Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

First half goals to Adisu Bayew, Birkan Kirdar and Khodder Kaddour proved the difference in an electrifying 45 minutes where Hume City dominated the game.

Our domination began right from the beginning as we applied pressure from the opening whistle.

That pressure was rewarded five minutes into the game when Bayew scored his third goal for the club following a beautiful piece of play from Chris Engelhart and Aidan Coyne.

Coyne started the play with the ball and threaded the needle to Engelhart for some solid back and forth play before the latter produced a wonderful cross to find an unmarked Bayew in the middle of the box, eventually slotting the ball into the back of the net.

Engelhart continued to dominate the right side of the field with a shot of his own, dancing his way into the box, but his shot went straight to Thunder keeper Andrew Withers.

Hume City’s strong press continued to put the visitors under immense pressure, however against the run of play, Dandenong managed to find an equaliser after Aaron Calver’s misfortune attempt to clear the ball with his head ended up in the path of the opposition striker, who beat Chris Oldfield one-on-one.

Hume City fans didn’t have to wait long for a response, with Engelhart and Coyne again in the thick of the action with some impressive link-up play, before Engelhart had two attempts at crossing the ball into the box, the second one eventually finding Kirdar at the back post, who powered the ball home off the volley.

We made it three goals just five minutes later as the ball was pinballing in a crowded box in pure chaos, with Kaddour eventually tapping the ball over the line – a last ditch attempt to clear from the Thunder defence failing to make a difference.

Coyne almost added himself to the scoresheet with a dangerous long-range effort that forced an acrobatic save from Withers, while Godfrey Debele came close to making it four after his run from a through ball from Kirdar put him in behind, the striker eventually stopped by a last ditch tackle from a Thunder defender.

The second half was a far less entertaining affair as Thunder had the better start with a shot within the first minute going across the face of the goal before Oldfield was again called into action around the hour mark.

We responded almost instantly with a play very similar to the second goal as Engelhart found Kirdar at the back post, only this time he went just wide.

In a half of few big chances, both sides had some opportunities to score, with our best chance coming 10 minutes from time when substitute Frank Busasa headed right into the keeper from a Steve Whyte free kick, before the resulting corner saw Josh Bingham’s header go just wide.

Steve Whyte came close to adding a fourth however his attempt to lob Withers was unsuccessful and the game stayed at 3-1, giving Hume City its third win in four matches.

Hume City’s next fixture is away at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex against Dandenong City on Friday 20 March at 7:45pm AEDT.