By JARROD POTTER
FOOTBALL FEDERATION VICTORIA – National Premier Leagues
A NIGHTTIME visit to Shepparton proved worthwhile for Dandenong Thunder – bringing home in its luggage a 4-0 win over Goulburn Valley Suns.
Rotating his list after a strenuous last week – especially with back-to-back loses to South Melbourne following a 120-minute Dockerty Cup defeat before a 0-5 belting on Sunday – Thunder coach Dean Hennessey made sure his best were rested and in some cases, left off the sheet entirely to recover.
Captain Alan Mulcahy was forced to sit out with osteitis pubis while David King, Matt Millar, Jake Nakic and Ramazan Tavsancioglu all are either on the mend or facing fresh injury concerns heading into Saturday night’s clash against Heidelberg.
Dandenong took the early lead through a Tavsancioglu wonder-striker in the ninth minute before Jake Nakic’s thunderbolt secured the second, but at the cost of an ankle injury to take the striker from the field.
Brendan Craig slotted the third before the break from a set-piece header to comfortable stroll into the change rooms with a handy buffer.
The Suns best chance came from a free kick, but Dandenong cleared through stand-in captain Alan Kearney, to find the eagerly awaiting Marcus Schroen header to seal the game.
“It was a great response from last week – had a really tough week where we played three games – first against Ballarat then playing South Melbourne twice,” Thunder coach Hennessey said.
“Unfortunate enough to lose in the (Dockerty) Cup and on Sunday we were good in the first half and it was interesting to see how we responded.
“It was a really good team performance and to score four goals away from home I was delighted with it to be honest.”
Hennessey said Mulcahy and Nakic are in doubt for Saturday night’s home-clash against Heidelberg United, but the coach believes it has highlighted the depth of his squad heading into the second half of the NPL season.
“It tests your squad… we’ve got a really good squad of boys, who are really competitive,” Hennessey said.
“If I can throw four or five in, I think we play slightly different types of players and for a coach that’s a great thing to have – flexibility… they can do a job for us and they keep working as hard as we do.”
In other results, Springvale White Eagles was beset by the rain, wind and a ferocious Avondale Heights side. The home side kicked ahead in the 58th minute through Jamie Le Page and that was enough to take the points.
