DANDENONG THUNDER v SOUTH MELBOURNE – Saturday, April 18 @ George Andrews Reserve

Dandenong Thunder extended its lead at the top of the Victorian Premier League with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Whittlesea Zebras on Saturday night.

Zebra’s lone striker Tex Apostolikas scored his first goal of the season and only the second Zebra goal of the 2009 campaign, when he headed home a corner in the 11th minute of the game.

Suddenly the Zebras became the only team to lead Dandenong Thunder in a match all season.

For the most part of the first half, the visitors looked fairly comfortable in defence apart from when Thunder midfielder Ryan Davidson had a one-on-one chance with Zebra keeper Kyriakou Gerohristodoulou, and Colin Quirk hit the crossbar from the rebound.

However the telling part of the match came at the stroke of half time when both these Thunder players were able to turn the game around for Dandenong.

Davidson scored first from a spot kick after a Zebra defender handled a cross in the box.

Quirk added the second following a long Marcus Stergiopoulos ball which released Hamlet Armenian down the right flank for the hosts.

Armenian supplied the final pass for Quirk to finish neatly from close range.

Thunder continued to look the more threatening team in the second half, with Armenian’s pace repeatedly opening the Zebras up along their left flank.

Davidson could have added his second goal of the match, however Gerohristodoulou again foiled him in a one on one situation.

Thunder keeper Stuart Wester was barely troubled in the second half.

However Zebra defender Hayden D’Agostino might have stolen an equalizer for the visitors with a header in the dying moments but failed to make a clean connection.

Victorious coach Stuart Munro was rapt after the game.

“We’re very pleased to get the three points,” Munro said.

”The first thirty minutes of the game, we certainly didn’t play anything like we wanted to play.

”We played far too many long balls through the middle.

”Whittlesea did very well.

”They showed a lot of determination. The goals we got just before half time settled us and I thought the second half, we played quite well and were worthy of the win.”

Zebra’s new coach Ang Postecoglou, said of his team’s performance was ‘ok’.

“Obviously playing against the top side, they’re full of confidence at the moment,” he said.

”We battled away, scored a goal, which gave the team a bit of confidence.

”After that we looked good defensively until a three minute spell just before half time.

”We threw the whole game away unfortunately.”

Line-Ups:
Dandenong Thunder:

Webster, S., Hanger, J., Bahnson, N., Oman, L., Wellford, A., Armenian, H (Reshape 88’), Quirk( Diuria, J. 82’), C., Davidson, R., Stergiopoulos, M, Korcari (Onur Ilci 68’), V.)

Scorers: Davidson 44’ , Quirk 45’
Zebras:

Gerohristodoulou, D’Agostino, H., Kovacevic, S., Antoniadis, R., Angelovski, J., Vassallo, B.,Piorkowski, S., Vazzocchi, M. (O’Hare, R 69’), Martin , S., Kozic, J. ( Garcia, E. 69’), Apostolikas, T.

Scorer: Apostolikas 11’

Man of the Match: Hamlet Armenian (Thunder)