By Nick Creely
NPL2 – EAST
Dandenong Thunder (4) v Dandenong City (1)
Round 1 Review
Gee, the Thunder would be counting their lucky stars that Brandon Barnes put pen to paper this season.
After the star striker received plenty of outside interest from clubs, including some in the A-League, Barnes eventually recommitted to the cause down at George Andrews Reserve.
And he has started the year with a bang, scoring a triple as the Thunder crushed the City in a battle of the heavyweights, while also claiming first points in the Jim Memeti Cup.
Both sides have had intriguing off-seasons, with the City signing a raft of exciting players as well as bringing over Stuart Munro as their new coach.
While the Thunder have had a disruptive preseason, with coach Giuseppe Anastasi pulling out of his commitment to the club, before swiftly signing the experienced campaigner Gianfranco Impellizzeri to the helm, despite very little preparation.
The crowd was vast and loud as the two rivals from Dandy strode out onto the beautiful green turf, and it took until the 41st minute, before Barnes got his first strike into the corner.
Just minutes later, Thunder playmaker Tomas Murphy made it 2-0, and with the City’s backs against the wall, it seemed like the stars were aligning for the Thunder.
Barnes then scored ten minutes later, after a lovely left-footed pass by the returning Muriqi, with the star striker taking care of business.
The City did eventually drag one back through James Kelly, who used his class to put a low ball into the net, before Barnes delivered the killer blow less than a minute later, as the lengthy crowd erupted for the Thunder.
New Thunder coach Impellizzeri was proud his team got off to a good start, saying the group has had a disrupted pre-season.
“Overall we deserved the result, because our game-plan was immaculate – the pre-season was very slow and had many issues, including injuries and people coming late – we played a very good team and last night the team deserved it,” he said.
“We were more sharp and smart to get off and score the goals – Barnes is a great striker and that’s his job to score goals, and the team around him works very hard – it’s not a same team, we have a new coach in myself, we’re a brand new team in a way with a new style – 50-percent of our team is new.
“I believe the City are a really good team, and it’s an early stage in the season – the fact we played at home definitely helped us overall. “I enjoy the club and I’m very happy so far.”
