Dandenong Thunder coach Dean Hennessey praised his side’s “courageous” performance after his side downed Green Gully 1-0 at George Andrews Reserve on Saturday evening.
Speaking post-game, Hennessey commended his team’s defensive efforts despite being down to ten men for almost an hour after defender Kris Kioussis was given his marching orders in the 37th minute.
“It was a courageous, courageous performance as a team,” he said.
“At half-time we tried to set our stall out to play 4-4-1 and I said ‘look there might be a mistake, something might happen, we might create a chance and we might score a goal’ but realistically I thought we’ve got a point, let’s keep the point, we’re in a bad situation and a nil-nil result is a victory.
“To actually win it, was amazing really.”
What made the victory all the more impressive was the stark contrast in experience on the pitch, with Green Gully boasting a wealth of travelled players, whilst Hennessey has taken a youth heavy approach to structuring his Thunder side.
“[Green Gully] are the most experienced side [in the competition] and they’re a good side – you saw today in the first half they were much much better than we were,” the head coach said.
“We’re a brand new team. We have 15 brand new lads who have never been at this club before plus five lads that have been here, of which three of them are young boys.
“For us to perform the way we did today, we showed tremendous character. We’ve got an unbelievably good group that want to play for each other.
“The future is bright. I think this league is a good decision if clubs support this and go down that direction because these players will only make it if they play games.”
The experienced Green Gully line-up controlled possession and played brilliantly in the middle of the park, but it was no match for Dandenong sheer determination as they struck late against the run of play via a brilliant effort from youngster Matt Millar.
Hennessey, a former Green Gully coach, was full of praise for the young full-back Millar, who played out of position in central midfield for the first time and worked tirelessly throughout the match.
The teenager excelled and his goal was well taken; skipping past two players before slotting the ball into the bottom corner.
“The boy’s a talent,” Hennessey said.
“He’s 17 years old – he’s got an engine to die for and he just goes at you. Even our lads hate training against him, we don’t like it because he won’t leave you alone.
“Matt Millar’s nowhere near the finished article, I think he’s about 10 per cent of where he can be so can you imagine what he’s going to be if he gets all the game time and develops those skills.”
Hennessey quickly turned his attention to Dandenong’s next opponents Hume City who will be desperate to bounce back following their disappointing 2-1 loss to Werribee City on Sunday.
“We’re not going to get carried away, it was a fabulous win, it was one we got out of jail but we can now build on to next week because Hume will be a tough game next week so we’ll start preparing for that now.”
“We played them in a practice match and it was a great game. They’ve got a lot of firepower going that way.
“I think it’ll be an open game, I think it’ll be a good one to come and watch.”
Hennessey spoke about the expectations around his squad for the season and says he would be delighted with a top-five finish.
“Our expectation or our goal we set as a team was halfway. If we could finish halfway, we thought that was a good achievement with being so young and also brand new.
“If we could make the top five I’d be delighted because I think the next year this group would be one year older, one more pre-season under them and they’ll actually really know each other.
“We’d like to try and keep this group together for a long time if we can.”