Dandenong Thunder’s Joseph Di Iorio scored twice in the 2-2 draw with Melbourne Knights on Sunday. 30293 Picture: Meagan RogersBy Stuart Teather
DANDENONG Thunder’s hot streak came to an end on Sunday against the Melbourne Knights, with the teams playing out a 2-2 draw in their round 10 Victorian Premier League clash.
The draw brought an end to Dandenong’s run of six wins in a row, but the Thunder still remain undefeated, and two wins clear on top of the ladder.
The Knights still held a 2-1 advantage in the final five minutes of the match, but Joseph Di Iorio scored his second goal for the game in the 87th minute to tie the game.
Frankie Lagana put the Knights ahead in the 16th minute, then followed up with a second goal immediately after half-time to give his side a two-goal lead.
Thunder coach Stuart Munro said the Knights deserved to hold the advantage after out-playing his troops in the first half.
“We were probably a bit naive in the way we went about trying to play the game in the first half, we played in-to their hands a little bit,” he said.
“Our first half was very disappointing, but the pleasing thing again was the reaction from the players when I spoke to them at half-time, they turned things around really quickly in the second half,” he said.
Five minutes after Lagana slotted his second, Dandenong’s Marcus Stergiopoulos took a free kick outside the box and floated the ball in to Di Iorio, who headed home the Thunder’s first of the game.
The Thunder kept pressing for the equaliser but it took until the dying stages for the result to come, with some clever interplay between Veton Korcari and Hamlet Armenian setting up Di Iorio on the post to slot home the game-tying goal.
Munro said the game showed his players were able to cope with the pressure of being down.
“It’s pleasing that they’ve got that in them, because at some stage we will lose a game, we know that, but its how you respond to that.
“When you’re two-nil down and there’s a lot going against you, the guys have got it in their make-up to come back and get something out of the game.”
This Saturday the Thunder host Heidelberg at George Andrews Reserve, with kick-off at 3pm.
