Thunder burns feisty Zebras

By Luke Sheehan
DANDENONG Thunder defeated the Whittlesea Zebras 3-2 in a thrilling encounter in the Victorian Premier League, ensuring Whittlesea’s relegation to State League One for 2010.
The Thunder shot out to a 2-0 lead at half time, courtesy of goals to Hamlet Armenian and Joey Di Iorio. The Zebras pegged a goal back through Tex Apostolikas, before Di Iorio scored his second to regather a two-goal buffer for Dandenong.
The 71st minute saw the highlight of the match, when Stefan Piorkowski’s long range shot found the top right corner of the net, and put the Zebras within a goal of coming away from the game with an unlikely point. Thunder coach Stuart Munro said it was a good win for his side in the circumstances.
“It was obviously going to be a difficult game really. There were quite a number of changes we had to make today for various reasons. That obviously makes it difficult for us,” Munro said.
Munro noted that despite the Zebras’ ladder position of 11th (second-last) in the Premier League, their season had much more to show for it.
“Like I said to the players, Whittlesea have probably lost 90 per cent of their games by one goal this year, so they’re never far away, they’ve always got a team that’s putting in a lot of effort.”
Munro said the young players stood up to be counted in the victory, showing their worth in the lead-up to the finals.
“Young Phil Hawkins came in and debuted for us at the back, and I thought he had a terrific game once he had settled in for us. Alex Tabor, up front, I thought moved well and did very well for us. It was a good all round team performance considering a lot of players were playing in unfamiliar positions.”
This Saturday Dandenong hosts Richmond at George Andrews Reserve from 7pm, with the visitors coming off a strong 3-1 win against Oakleigh.