Dandenong City was dealt a shock when it dropped crucial points by drawing 1-1 with 12th-placed South Melbourne in round 24 of the NPL.
Away at JL Murphy Reserve, City gifted the first goal to fall on the back foot early.
A corner for the Sharks seemed to be routinely collected by keeper Matthew Marrum, but he fumbled the catch and the ball spilled into play in a dangerous area.
The ball ricocheted out to Will Gillingham who guided his shot into the bottom corner from close range to lift the hosts in front in just the sixth minute.
Dandenong equalised in the 30th minute through another goalkeeping error at the other end.
From a City corner, Corey Sewell flicked on his header and it found its way through to Gaku Inaba on the left side of the box.
Inaba took a dribble to his left to further tighten the angle and fired a shot to the near post that the keeper appeared to have covered.
However, it slipped through him and deflected into the back of the net to make the game 1-1 in the first half.
From there, neither team could find a way to score and the teams entered the main intermission deadlocked.
In the first half, Inaba’s goal was the only of six Dandenong shots that were on target, while the Sharks had registered two shots and both were accurate.
Out of the break, City came out with nothing to lose and absolutely peppered shots to try and take control of the contest.
The forwards continued to try to counter attack and find options, with the team recording 11 shots in the second half to Port Melbourne’s two.
Four of City’s shots were headed towards goal but kept out, meaning the match resulted in a frustrating 1-1 result for Dandenong.
City had a chance to climb the NPL table with the victory, but failed to score in the second half and now the club remains in seventh.
In round 25, Dandenong will return home to Frank Holohan Soccer Complex to face Melbourne Knights.
