Dandenong City punched its ticket to the NPL finals with a 3-0 win away at Melbourne Victory in round 26.
City came through when it mattered most down the business stretch of the season, thrashing Melbourne Knights 7-1 in round 25 and winning 3-0 this week to move from seventh to sixth on the table and pinch the final postseason spot.
At the Home of the Matildas, both teams went scoreless for the first 41 minutes before Dandenong found a breakthrough.
A long cross came into the box that found Jamie Latham free, but he decided to cleverly head the ball into a centreing position, allowing Will Bower to bury the ball into the bottom left corner and put the visitors in front.
As the game moved into stoppage time before the intermission, City forced a turnover in the midfield and launched onto the attack.
The ball was skied to allow speedster Jamie Latham to run into space, blowing past his defender with just the keeper to beat.
The goalkeeper desperately scrambled out of goal to meet Latham early, but the tricky winger dribbled around his outstretched hand and ran it in for a second on the cusp of halftime.
Latham’s kick became the last of the first half and Dandenong entered the break having fired 17 shots at goal with four being on target, a dominant start.
City wasted absolutely no time grabbing a third with Bower being played in on the left wing via a textbook through ball.
Bower squared it to the dangerous Kenjok Athiu, who calmly placed the ball into the back of the net in just the 47th minute.
Dandenong saw out the 3-0 win with a total of 27 shots for the match, including nine on target.
The visitors also recorded nine corners in a prolific offensive threat under Nick Tolios.
City has scored 10 goals in its past two games to qualify for the finals for the second straight year.
The elimination final will be massive, with City set to face long-time enemies and bitter rivals Dandenong Thunder in the first round of the postseason.
