Despite a brilliant display from Thunder custodian Jamie Young, Avondale FC finished strongly thanks to a Stefan Valentini brace in extra time to win their Dockerty Cup seventh round encounter on Tuesday night.
Paisley Park played host to the Avengers, who were desperate to bounce back from a late equaliser to the Saints on the weekend and continue their run in both Cup competitions.
Stefan Zinni and Manny Aguek caused trouble early for the Thunder defence, combining in the 10th minute only for Aguek to scuff his shot directly into the hands of Young. He denied Kalilou Kamara from close range in the 22nd minute and parried what appeared to be a certain goal from Luca Tevere shortly before the interval to round out a stellar first-half display.
Thunder finally worked their way into the contest in the second-half, thanks to a Yuki Ushida shot 62 minutes in was easily collected by Thomas Manos. But the Avengers continued to trouble the visitors, Aguek with two shots in as many minutes in the latter stages before Kristian Trajceski had a golden chance to seal the win, through on goal and with just Young to beat only for the keeper to stand tall once again.
Scoreless in regular time, though given the Avengers dominance, it appeared to be only a matter of time before the damn wall would burst. Cue substitute Stefan Valentini in the 111th minute, who after some fine build-up play on the wing by Aguek, expertly trapped the ball with his first touch and converted with his second, a beautiful curling drive which had Young beaten at his near post.
The win was ultimately sealed in the third additional minute of extra time, as the Avengers broke in numbers in their own half, Trajceski and Towns combining to put Valentini through on goal, a back-tracking Young conceding once again despite a heroic display.
Avondale 2 (Valentini 111, 120+3)
Dandenong Thunder 0
Avondale: Thomas Manos, Daniel Edwards, Ayden Brice, Stefan Zinni (Jackson Courtney-Perkins 82), Manyluak Aguek (Masssimo D'argenio 120), Yitayew Towns, Kristian Trajceski, Emlyn Wellsmore, Luca Tevere (Cian Cuba 82), Yusuf Ahmed (Stefan Valentini 57), Kalilou Kamara.
Dandenong Thunder: Jamie Young, Daniel Alessi, Mersim Memeti, Aidan Edwards (Lirim Elmazi 111), Yuki Ushida, Kyle Taylor, Wade Dekker (Jok Akuien 111), Daniel Clark, Ali Sulemani (Jay Romanovski 51), Hassan Jalloh (Muamet Selimovski 87), Thijs Van Amerongen
Dockerty Cup Semi-Finals
The draw for the Dockerty Cup semi-finals has been confirmed. Avondale will lock horns with South Melbourne in what promises to be a classic knock-out battle, particularly with South's recent form under Sinisa Cohadzic, seeing them unbeaten in their past six matches. But the form team in Victoria is without a shadow of a doubt Heidelberg United, who are unbeaten in all competitions in their past seventeen and will look to continue their dominance against the free-wheeling Nunawading City, who have caused their fair share of cupsets already in 2025.
Alec Forrest Medal Leaderboard
It remains a four-way tie in the race for the Alec Forrest Medal, the only change is the elimination of three Northcote City forwards who were in with a shout of catching Dean Lorenzi, Daniel Radenkovic, Leon Kyriakos and Masee Namdar, who have all scored 6 goals in their respective Dockerty Cup campaigns.
While Avondale’s Stefan Zinni remains in the competition, he will need a hat-trick if he is to claim the Medal outright, a brace will see a remarkable five players share the honours, and with four of them representing as many tiers in the VETO Men’s State League, it promises to reward some of Melbourne’s finest strikers in the lower tiers.
A full list of players who can catch our leaders are listed below, along with the remaining four clubs they are contracted to.
Goalscorers still alive in Dockerty Cup
Avondale: Stefan Zinni (4), Manyluak Aguek (2), Stefan Valentini (2), Yusuf Ahmed, Cian Cuba, Kur Kur, Luca Tevere, Emlyn Wellsmore
Heidelberg United: Sebit James Ngor (3), Chok Dau (2), Fletcher Fulton (2), Max Bisetto, Bul Juach, Jay McGowan, Anthony Theodoropoulos
Nunawading City: Christian Cavallo (3), Carlos Abboud (2), Alexander Dimitriou (2), Stuart Edgar (2), Alex Kubenko (2), Jake Brown, Denis Daluri, Jacob De Kretser, Filippo Gioffre, Fuki Ishibashi, Santiago Domingo Lupino, Nedzib Ramic, James Riordan
South Melbourne: Andy Brennan (2), Robert Harding (2), Marco Jankovic (2), Jordon Lampard, Andrew Mesourouni