By JARROD POTTER
THUNDER struck thrice in the last 20 minutes to go from 0-1 deficit to a 3-1 victory over Richmond.
The seasoned campaigners Bryan Bran and Nate Foster ensured the George Andrews boys wouldn’t be left on the foot of the ladder this week.
A horror first half saw Giddie Sweet get by unchecked against a pair of Thunder defenders, easily slotting the loose ball into the bottom corner past Dandenong’s Zaim Zaneli in the 24th minute.
Dandenong held on grimly to ensure the loyal cadre of fans had something to cheer for from the bypass fence-line.
A textbook set-play corner saw Bryan Bran fly unmarked to register the equaliser in the 70th minute.
From there, the show belonged to the Thunder’s best – Nate Foster beguiled the opposition and danced his way down the left wing to set up the go-ahead goal in the 82nd before Steven Topalovic threaded a wonder-ball to the Canadian dynamo to slot his second and make it a two-goal win.
Thunder coach Chris Taylor said the Thunder’s reactive nature last week didn’t follow them into this round, as the players took ownership of the comeback.
“As I said last week, we looked like a team that was waiting for something to happen rather than making it happen,” Taylor said.
“When we went a goal down, people took the bull by the horns, things were looking alright – we hit the crossbar a couple of times – but as soon as we got that goal, everyone believed in what we were doing and that’s no different to last year.”
Dandenong now sits on one-point, with their minus three-point start erased from the book, a relief to the Thunder, but not a means for celebration just yet.
“We were hoping to do that in the first game – it adds pressure to you,” Taylor said.
“We’re off the bottom technically and looking forward to playing a good team like South and also got some errors we need to rectify as we’re not as fluent as we were last year.”
Lockout match three of five will take place on Saturday as the Thunder hosts South Melbourne.
Returning for the match will be captain Shane Rexhepi, back from his honeymoon, and Liam Kearney, who served his red-card suspension this week.
