Dandenong Thunder coach Dean Hennessey admitted his side should have won but will happily take the point as they played out a 0-0 draw with a formidable Oakleigh Cannons side on Thursday.
A bumper crowd at George Andrews Reserve welcomed a Cannons side fresh off a 6-1 win over Green Gully along with two former Thunder players in forwards Veton Korcari and Nate Foster but despite relentless attacks on goal, both sides were unable to break the deadlock after 90 minutes.
“From our point of view we felt we should have won based on the chances especially in the second half,” Hennessey said.
“We’re feeling we should have won but if somebody said before the game ‘take a point against Oakleigh’, I watched them against Gully, I would have took it.”
Dandenong launched an assault on the Oakleigh goal but despite working hard to earn a number of attacking chances, the Thunder were unable to put any past Oakleigh goalkeeper John Honos.
The goalless final score line made for an interesting statistic; it was the first nil-all of the new NPL era and coach Hennessey praised Honos’ commendable performance between the sticks to deny Dandenong three points.
“We’ve had maybe four or five chances in the second half … normally in four or five chances you normally bury one,” the Thunder coach said.
“I thought the boys got themselves into good positions but it’s just the decision-making or the way they actually strike the ball.
“The [Oakleigh] goalkeeper has pulled off a couple of good saves as well, give credit where it’s due for the goalkeeper.
“Look, it’s football, there’s lots and lots of chances and that’s probably why most probably the highest paid players are the boys who can score goals.”
With Dandenong boasting a squad with an average age of 22 years old, many were discounting the Thunder’s chances of having a successful NPL campaign this season but they have emerged as an early surprise packet, with the young side yet to taste defeat after five rounds.
The rest of the league is starting to take notice of this dangerous side but Hennessey maintains that his players are industrious and will not get carried away this early in the season.
“I’m excited with the balance that we’ve got, and it’s a young team. I think we’ve got 12 players 21 or under so there’s a vast majority of young lads in there,” Hennessey said.
“The group that I’ve got, and this is most probably the highlight, they’re a really good group, they’re very close together, and there are no egos there – from the oldest to the youngest everyone pitches in.
“Eventually you’re going to get beat, you’re going to come up against a side that beats you on the day and that’s going to happen – this league has an unbelievable way of kicking you in the teeth pretty quick so we won’t get carried away.”
Hennessey’s men have a trip to Kingston Heath on Friday to look forward to, where they’ll take on Bentleigh Greens, a side that’s also yet to taste defeat in the NPL this season, with Hennessey admitting Dandenong will try and take advantage of the Greens’ possession-based game plan.
“I’ve always watched Bentleigh and I’ve always been impressed with the way they’ve played but I don’t think many teams will like playing against us,” he said.
“We’re difficult to play against, we work hard, we pressure people and we try to stop them from playing.
“When we break, we really look quick going forward and they’re going to have to be careful about how much possession they have and in what areas and we’ll try to exploit that,” he added.
“It’ll be a good game. I think it’ll be an exciting game and we’ll go with the view of trying to get three points.”
Dandenong Thunder will face an in-form Bentleigh Greens side at Kingston Heath on Friday April 25 with kick-off at 8:30 pm.