By DAMIR KULAS (@DamirKulas)

A rampant performance from Heidelberg United has seen the visitors trash Dandenong Thunder 1-6 at George Andrews Reserve on Saturday night.

Doubles to Kaine Sheppard and Dan Heffernan, an early Kosta Kanakaris strike and a fantastic Andreas Govas free-kick did the trick on the night with Ramazan Tavansancioglu’s stunning volley proving to be only mere consolation for the hosts.

It did not take long for the Bergers to get into their groove as Kanakaris found himself in space on the edge of the area before seeing his shot take a wicked deflection of Dandenong defender Gideon Sweet and into the back of the net past a wrong-footed Zaim Zeneli.

That lead was doubled inside the opening fifteen minutes when Nejc Kolman played the ball into the box before a clearance from a Thunder defender fell to Sheppard whose neat strike beat Zeneli.

A great cross in from the left Reuben Way saw the ball find its way to a leaping Heffernan but his header was well tipped over by Zeneli.

The hosts almost reduced the deficit on the half-hour mark when a Fitim Ibraimi ball into the box was met by the head of Veton Korcari but the veteran failed to direct his header on target.

Up the other end, Sheppard was causing the Thunder defence much trouble and saw his fierce shot clip the top off the crossbar.

An entertaining first half was rounded off with the strike of the night when a clearance by the Heidelberg defence was met by a meticulous volley from 25 metres from experienced campaigner Tavsancioglu who left Griffin McMaster in goals with no chance of saving it.

Any hopes of a second-half comeback from Stuart Munro’s men was killed off inside the opening six minutes of the half as a scintillating free-kick from Govas left the wall and Zeneli unmoved.

Sheppard got his second and Heidelberg’s fourth a minute later when he latched onto a through ball before converting the ball past a besieged Zeneli.

Korcari was unlucky not to reduce the deficit two minutes later but saw his powerful strike smash against the post and go back into play without reward.

Dandenong Thunder’s misery was compounded inside the last twenty minutes when Englishmen Dan Heffernan scored a brace to round off the scoring.

A strong initial header could not be forced out of goals by Zeneli before a pin-point perfect cross from the instrumental Sheppard saw Heffernan seal Thunder’s fate on a memorable night for George Katsakis’ men who moved level on points with Bentleigh in second place.

Match Details

Dandenong Thunder 1 (Tavsancioglu 37) defeated by Heidelberg United 6 (Kanakaris 8, Sheppard 15, 50, Govas 51, Heffernan 73, 79) at George Andrews Reserve

DT: 20. Zaim Zeneli (GK), 2. Jarryd Barnes, 3. Ramazan Tavsancioglu, 4. Adam Petko, 5. Faisal Sakhizada, 8. Lewis Foster (22. Muhamed Fezollari 68’), 9. Veton Korcari, 12. Brendan Elmazovski (24. Viktor Mujedinovski 82’), 16. Gideon Sweet, 17. Fitim Ibraimi (19. Abdirahman Abdul 72’), 23. Michael Gerace

Unused Subs: 26. Anthony Saric (GK), 27. Damir Stoilovic

Yellow Card(s): None

Red Card(s): None

HU: 23. Griffin McMaster (GK), 2. Jamie Cumming, 7. Reuben Way, 9. Kosta Kanakaris (3. Les Doumbalis), 10. Jack Petrie, 13. Luke Byles, 14. Dan Heffernan, 17. Steven Pace, 20. Nejc Kolman (24. Andrew Cartanos), 21. Andreas Govas (5. Daniel Vasilevski), 22. Kaine Sheppard

Unused Subs: 1. Evan Markogiannakis, 12. Kenny Athiu

Yellow Card(s): None

Red Card(s): None