Grant Brebner had a penalty saved and Danny Allsopp’s goal was disallowed as the Melbourne Victory went down 1-0 to the Dandenong Thunder in Wednesday’s friendly at Olympic Park.
Grant Brebner had a penalty saved and Danny Allsopp’s goal was disallowed as the Melbourne Victory went down 1-0 to the Dandenong Thunder in Wednesday’s friendly at Olympic Park.
Victory fielded close to a full-strength line-up for the match, but there were two less familiar faces in the form of ex-Gold Coast youth team defender Ben Harrison and goalkeeper James Chronopoulos.
A third trialist, Nathan Denham, started on the bench.
Ashley Stott enjoyed the first sight of goal for the Victorian Premier League side 15 minutes in, firing his shot directly at Chronopoulos.
Allsopp had Victory’s first notable opportunity on 24 minutes, with a tame effort from outside the area easily saved by Dandenong goalkeeper Stuart Webster.
Four minutes later and the Thunder took the lead, with a free-kick cannoning off the woodwork and falling to Stott, who slotted home from cross range.
Denham and Matthew Foschini replaced Chronopoulos and Harrison for the second half, joining Leigh Broxham, who came off the bench in place of Billy Celeski five minutes before the break.
Victory pressed for an equaliser in the second half, with Allsopp having a shot cleared off the line.
Adrian Leijer saw his header blocked by Webster and Archie Thompson went agonisingly close, hitting the crossbar from metres out.
Allsopp had a goal ruled out for offside on the hour mark, before Steven Gray brought down Matthew Kemp inside the area.
Brebner was denied from the penalty spot by Webster, without question the hero on the night for the VPL underdogs.
Thunder’s Luke Sherbon also had a goal disallowed for handball on 68 minutes.
And Victory were unable to find a way through at the other end, the two-time Hyundai A-League Premiers foiled by a combination of misfortune and the inspired Webster.
