Dandenong Thunder coach Dean Hennessey was “delighted” to winning ways with a 3-1 triumph over the visiting Ballarat Red Devils, adding that squad rotation due to fixture congestion had contributed to the inconsistent results.
The Thunder dropped three points against Werribbee last week, fading out after almost an hour of strong play to concede three goals, but Hennessey was pleased with his team’s response this time around.
“You never expect anything in this league,” Hennessey said.
“I wanted a reaction from last week because although we played really well for an hour, I thought once they scored we never looked like coming back and that’s something we needed to change.
“We think we’ve fixed a few little demons – we’ve scored tonight, they’ve scored and we’ve come back but we’ve gone on with it, we haven’t dropped our heads.
“That’s the really pleasing thing, so from a team point of view, [it is a] fabulous response from last week.”
Hennessey attributed Dandenong’s mixed fortunes to squad rotation in an attempt to give all his players regular game time, and praised the efforts of players who have stepped up when called upon, including captain Alan Mulcahy, who came back into the lineup after missing last week’s loss.
“It’s a squad thing – you can’t keep putting the same eleven out every week,” he said.
“I’ve got a belief that players who are on the fringes have to be involved because when you need them, if they haven’t played for 10 weeks or a proper game, all of a sudden it’s going to take two or three games to get them right.
“You (also) can’t put a price on the influence [Alan Mulcahy] brings to the team, with his drive and energy and talking – most of our lads are quiet and he tries to bring the best out of them.”
Dandenong now have a monumental task ahead of them, fixtured to play South Melbourne twice in a week due to Dockerty Cup and NPL season commitments.
South Melbourne have not dropped a point all season, and Hennessey’s troops will have to produce spectacular performances to challenge the season’s runaway leaders.
The Thunder could welcome back some familiar faces to George Andrews Reserve tonight for the Cup fixture, with former players Mathew Theodore, Iqi Jawadi, Tim Mala and Nick Epifano all now turning out for South Melbourne.
“I think we’ve got to understand that when we play South, they’ll bring a whole new ball game,” said Hennessey.
“They’ve got two great strikers [Milos Lujic and Jamie Reed] who are scoring regularly so we’re going to have to deal with that first and they’ve also got a lot of supply.
“We’ll have a defensive mindset not to give too much early but we’ll try to cause a threat going the other way as well,” he added.
Although facing an uphill challenge, the Dandenong mentor maintains his side will come into the clash with confidence and will hope to hand South Melbourne their first loss of the season.
“[South Melbourne are] scoring freely, they’ve not got beat, so they’ve got a winning habit there,” he said.
“That’s a great habit to have, but from our point of view we go in with confidence now.
“I think Wednesday will be a really exciting night – it’s a great competition, I think everybody’s focused on it and we’ll just get these boys ready for Wednesday.
“Then, whatever happens Wednesday, we’ll have to bounce back three or four days later and take South on in their place [Lakeside Stadium] which will be very difficult but I’m confident”.