Oakleigh Cannons made light work of Dandenong Town at home, running out 5-0 winners in the NPL Victoria's twenty-fifth round on Saturday. The result leaves the visitors sitting top of the table with fifty-four points, while the hosts drop further adrift at fourteenth with only fifteen.
The visitors struck first through A. Duratovic, who found the net in the fourteenth minute. Oakleigh doubled their advantage before the break with two quickfire goals, the first arriving in the fortieth minute and B. Boyce adding another in the forty-first to push the visitors into a commanding position.
By then Dandenong had nothing left to offer, and the visitors made no mistake. J. Knowles extended the lead in the fifty-sixth minute, with an unattributed scorer following up just a minute later. A. Salmon made it five in the eighty-fourth minute, and B. Giaccherini added a late seventh goal in stoppage time.
The visitors have not won since, but this victory extends their unbeaten run to eight matches across all competitions. The hosts, meanwhile, have lost four of their last five league games, including three consecutive defeats by margins of at least two goals.
What matters here is the gulf between the two sides. Oakleigh sit nineteen points clear at the summit, while Dandenong's fourteen-point deficit from safety looks increasingly unbridgeable. The result means the visitors will need just one more point from their final game to secure the title.