Thunder head over heels

By Gavin Staindl
WITH a bit of luck and a helpful hand – or should it be head – from debutant Murat Abazi, Dandenong Thunder ended their winless streak of six games by beating Northcote City 1-0 at John Cain Memorial Reserve.
Seventeen-year-old Abazi was given his first chance on the pitch in the premier league when he replaced Ibraim Ibraimi at the 57-minute mark and within 20 minutes had become the hero for the visitors. Abazi watched as Joe Di Iorio put in a high cross to the back post that Abazi met with his head to score the winning goal.
“I tried to get on the end of it (the cross),” Abazi said. “People can say whether it was a good goal or not but I’ll take it.”
And so too will Dandenong which has struggled to convert on goal-scoring chances this year. Thunder coach Stuart Munro decided he had seen enough squandered goal opportunities and after Abazi’s recent run of good form in the under-21 competition, the time was right for Munro to bring in some fresh faces.
“I wanted to bring in someone who has not had their confidence dented by the string of losses,” Munro said.
After five losses from the opening seven rounds it appeared Dandenong would be heading down a similar track against Northcote when Ryan Davidson and Veton Korcari both missed regulation one-on-ones with the goal-keeper.
But the visitors were thrown a life-line when the referee called play-on for what should have been a Northcote penalty late in the first half.
“They had one or two chances and had control of the play for a bit but we just got lucky,” said Munro.
Dandenong will play Green Gully next week in a game that could catapult the Thunder up the ladder
The Thunder is second from the bottom on seven points but a win over Green Gully could see them elevate to as high as seventh – not that the coach is paying attention.
“I don’t look at the ladders. If you are losing games you will be down the bottom and if you’re winning games you will be up the top. We’re losing games so we’ll be down the bottom and all that’s left for us is to try and get another win,” Munro said.