By Andrew Bishara (@_andrewbishara)

Box Hill United maintained its perfect start to the season with a comfortable 3-0 win over Dandenong City at Wembley Park on Saturday.

An opening 20-minute blitz saw the hosts take an unassailable three-goal lead thanks to Kenny Athiu and a double from Rinor Muriqi.

The game was only eight minutes old when Box Hill started the rout.

A great run by Chris Irwin saw the midfielder twist and turn in the box, before passing back to Muriqi, who only needed to steady himself before curling in the opener. 

Ten minutes later it was 2-0 when George Howard broke down the right flank before delivering a pinpoint cross for Athiu.

The striker rose highest from the pack to smash in the header and get his name on the scoresheet.

Athiu was at the heart of Box Hill’s third goal, when a long ball from Adrian Del Monaco evaded the City defence, falling right to the feet of the striker.

With space in from of him, the forward ran to the byline before cutting the ball across the box for Muriqi to smash home his second.

After that early onslaught, City began to regain its composure and slowly exerted control in the match.

It had a chance to peg one back before the break, when a Dario Matkovic free kick unluckily smashed off the bottom of the post.

The second half was a tight affair with very few chances to either side.

The best moment came when Athiu and Irwin staged a fantastic counter-attack from their own corner.

The move saw Irwin find himself one-on-one with City ‘keeper Dennys Martin, but the midfielder’s shot just bounced wide of the post.

Any hope for a miracle comeback was over in the 70th minute when City’s Dandenong Thunder recruit Steven Topalovic was sent off for a second yellow card.

Box Hill was happy to hold possession against a 10-men City as the game fizzed out.

Its coach Arthur Georgiou said the NPL 1 league leaders didn’t perform at their best, despite the win.

“We got about 30 to 35 minutes of the performance that we require,” Georgiou said.

“There were aspects of what we set out to achieve today that we didn’t even get close to.”
Georgiou said his players dropped their intensity after ultimately sealing the points in a magnificent opening 20 minutes.

“We base our game plan on our rotation through midfield and through our forward line,” Georgiou said.

“Once a player gets in his head that he believes that the game and the result is over, they tend to stop doing those things.”

Dandenong coach Ivan Duzel said his team’s plans were ruined after the terrible start.

“The plan was to stop and the close the middle and make sure there were not too many passes,” Duzel said.

“But unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t work out.”

MATCH DETAILS

Box Hill United 3 (Muriqi 8’, 22’, Athiu 17’) defeated Dandenong City 0 at Wembley Park [HT: 3-0]

Box Hill United: 35. Alexander PAVLIDIS (GK), 22. Josh VALADON, 12. Adrian DEL MONACO (20. Josh BUSCH 46’),10. Rinor MURIQI, 22. Nick KOKALAKIS, 4. Chris IRWIN, 14. Kenny ATHIU, 11. Matt WATERS, 8. Samuel CATHERINE, 3. Matt COLLIER (16. Christian LAR 69’), 29. George HOWARD (5. Alex SCHROEN 58’)

UNUSED SUBS: 21. Christian PAVLIDIS, 28. Imran SAHKOH.

Yellow Cards: VALADON 48’

Red Cards: Nil

DANDENONG CITY: 1. Dennys MARTIN (GK), 6. John CARROLL 13. Halil GUR, 21. Andre JEREZ (11. Raymond LAY 46’), 18. Alex ROJAS 12. Shaun FILIPOVIC (Sean SEAVILL 57’), Keegan ZIADA, 9. Damien MISKULIN, 8. Dario MATKOVIC (23. Goran JUZELJIC 80’) 2. Nicholas GLAVAN 4. Steven TOPALOVIC

UNUSED SUBS: 62. Kirby ZIADA

Yellow Cards: TOPALOVIC 20’, ZIADA 24’, GUR 28’, SEAVILL 65’, JUZELJIC 79’

Red Cards: TOPALOVIC 70’