By David Manuca (@davidmanuca)

Sunshine George Cross has held off fellow mid-table club Dandenong City to record a 2-0 win at Chaplin Reserve on Saturday afternoon.

Ex-Green Gully player Christopher Dib was the hero for the home side, scoring a goal in each half to seal the three points for Sunshine.

His first came via the penalty spot when he smashed the ball into the top left-hand corner of the goal.

The sealer came with eight minutes left to play when Dib was on hand to nod home from close range following an Anthony Cassar corner.

Dandenong City started brightly and had the ball in the back of the net after 13 minutes, but Shaun Filipovic was adjudged to be offside following Damien Miskulin’s through ball.

Miskulin almost put City ahead himself on 20 minutes with a fantastic curling effort from outside the box, but it smashed off the crossbar.

Sunshine had its first chance of the game minutes later when Kojo Brown found Chris Oghanna in the box, but the midfielder’s shot was well saved by City goalkeeper Marko Stevanja.

Steven Topalovic was one of Dandenong’s best early in the contest, but he committed a foul on Brandon Zaffina in the box and in turn gave away a penalty.

Centre-back Dib stood up to take the spot-kick and he made no mistake by smashing it past Stevanja to make it 1-0.

Bozidar Lojanica had an opportunity to make it 2-0 late in the half after coming on as a substitute, but his effort was blocked by a City defender.

Lojanica started the second half with another chance on goal, but this time he hit a shot into the side netting after beating Stevanja.

Dandenong City’s best chance of the second period to equalise came in the 70th minute when Dario Matkovic found Topalovic in the box, however the big midfielder found his shot blocked.

Brown almost sealed the points with 12 minutes to play when a free-kick variation resulted in him through on goal, but the defender did enough to ensure his shot was directed high and wide.

It did not matter though as three minutes later Dib popped up from the corner to head home from close range and secure the win.

Sunshine coach Tony Ciantar hailed the return of first-choice goalkeeper Robert Santilli as an important factor in the win.

“First game back for our goalkeeper Robert Santilli made a huge difference. His leadership at the back, talking and organizing… his presence has been felt,” Ciantar said.

“The boys all played well and all dug deep and I thought it was a good all-round performance.”

Dandenong City coach Ivan Duzel was blunt in his assessment of his side’s performance.

“The performance today wasn’t on our level,” Duzel said.

“The past four or five weeks we have played excellent but today we were just too flat and looked disinterested.

“We didn’t create many chances today. It’s the first time we create only four, five, six chances. The young Sunshine boys wanted to win.”

MATCH DETAILS

Sunshine George Cross 2 (Dib 35’ 82’ pen.) defeated Dandenong City 0 at Chaplin Reserve [HT: 1-0]

Sunshine George Cross: 1. Robert SANTILLI (GK), 2. Eddie CETKIN, 4. Tom REILLY (15. Justin CUTAJAR 21’)(11. Jason DOMAZETOVSKI 82’), 5. Christopher DIB, 12. Matthew OGHANNA, 7. Brandon ZAFFINA, 8. Chris OGHANNA, 18. Lewis SHANNON (9. Bozidar LOJANICA 36’), 13. Kojo BROWN, 14. Anthony CASSAR, 17. Jacob ATTARD.

Unused substitutes: 21. Nabi TUNA, 16. James XYDIAS

Yellow cards: M. Oghanna 40’, Dib 63’, Domazetovski 86’

Red cards: Nil

Dandenong City: 31. Marko STEVANJA (GK), 6. John CARROLL, 9. Damien MISKULIN, 19. Nicholas GLAVAN, 12. Shaun FILIPOVIC (21. Anthony MIJAC 82’), 11. Joseph SIEH, 4. Steven TOPALOVIC (15. Adrian RISCHITELLI 87’), 2. Karim EL HALILI, 8. Dario MATKOVIC, 17. Danijel BUHIC (5. Alex ROJAS 59’), 3. Simon STOREY.

Unused substitutes: 31. Kirby ZIADA, 10. Sean SEAVILL

Yellow cards: Filipovic 77’

Red cards: Nil