Thunder eager to regain pride after defeat
The South West Queensland Thunder know first-hand that a week can be a long time in football.
A fortnight ago the side was celebrating a remarkable 4-3 injury time win over Magpies Crusaders United.
But last Saturday, just one week after their Mackay triumph, they were floored 7-1 by a well-drilled Western Pride outfit.
Tonight they seek redemption against Brisbane Strikers.
A win would see the Thunder rocket up the NPL Queensland ladder moving from 12th to a share of 6th with Strikers, Brisbane City, Gold Coast and Cairns all on 10 points.
It will be a key match for the young side and team manager Jason Hall said they were ready.
“We were right in the game against the Pride until about the last 25 minutes – it was 2-1,” Hall said.
“Unfortunately at that point Chris Hatfield saw a straight and the Pride went on with it from there scoring some late goals.
“It wasn’t as bad as the score would suggest. To be right in that game without our two starting centre backs (Federico Brusaca and Keagan Sheridan) against arguably the best attacking side in the competition is a positive.
“We’re still focused on the future and the boys have been very positive this week.”
Sheridan (ankle) and Brusaca (knee) are in doubt for tonight’s game in Brisbane and should they be ruled out the Thunder will promote several under-20 players to the senior men’s side.
“We will wait and see how Keagan and Federico come out of the last training session,” Hall said.
“If there’s any doubt we will err on the side of caution – we want them fit for the whole season.
“As it stands we’re planning to promote a number of our promising under-20 players. They’ve been training extremely well and produced some great performances of late and we want to reward that.”
Tonight’s match was added to the Thunder’s schedule after heavy rain forced the cancellation of the game earlier in the season.
Photo: Kevin Farmer