Preston Lions made no mistake at home to Dandenong Town on Saturday evening, running out 3-0 winners in the NPL Victoria's Regular Season round 24. The result extends their push towards the top of the table, while Dandenong's struggles continue unabated. J. Markovski was the man of the match, scoring all three goals in a performance that shifted the momentum before the crowd even settled into the second half.
The opening came quickly, with Markovski finding the net in the tenth minute to give the hosts an early advantage. He doubled his tally just three minutes later, and here's the thing — Dandenong had barely recovered from that first blow. By then, the visitors looked like a side that had already decided to concede. The third goal arrived after the interval, in the fifty-second minute, when Markovski completed his hat-trick with a clinical finish that never got going for the away defence.
It's not often you see a hat-trick in the league, but what mattered more was the context. Preston sit second with 26 points, having won 15 of their 26 games this season. Dandenong, meanwhile, occupy fourteenth place with just 15 points from four victories. The gap between them isn't just numerical — it's structural. Preston came into this fixture on the back of a 4-1 victory over Brunswick Juventus, while Dandenong had lost 3-0 away to Dandenong City just days earlier.
To be fair, the match wasn't a spectacle of attacking football, but it was efficient. Preston controlled the tempo, and when opportunities arose, they took them. Markovski's movement between the tenth and thirteenth minutes set the tone for the entire afternoon. Dandenong never really got out of second gear, and by the fifty-second minute, the result was beyond doubt. The crowd roared them on, but the visitors had little to offer in response.
The implications are clear enough. Preston remain in contention for a top-four finish, while Dandenong's season looks increasingly precarious. Fifteen points from 26 games is a long way from safety, and another defeat like this won't help their cause. Preston, on the other hand, have now won 15 matches and drawn six — a record that suggests they're building something genuine. The goal difference tells the story, but the points table tells it louder.