In a tight battle, the Cavaliers opened the game up to score twice in the space of five minutes in the final quarter of an hour.

The Thunder had the better of the opening half and was rewarded when wide man Dennis Ukalovski opened the scoring on 27 minutes.

They felt the absence of rumoured Melbourne Victory signing Geoffrey Kellaway as the Cavaliers broke the game open late on.

First, young front man Joshua Groenewald found himself unmarked to equalize from six yards on 78 minutes.

Substitute striker Mathew Sanders gave the Cavaliers the lead four minutes later, coolly finishing after a long pass from Andy Vargas.

The home side made two changes to its starting team that beat Sunshine George Cross late on last week, replacing Gary Wales and the injured Jonathan Munoz with Jason Hayne and Graham Hockless.

Nicholas Robinson dropped out of the squad with youngster Michael Anderson and Cameron Drake making up the five substitutes.

For the visitors, Kellaway was absent along with Jeffrey Bright from the team that had its game abandoned at home last week.

Noel Bahnsen took up the role at left full back while Ukalovski played wide on the right.

Kris Kiousis made his way onto the bench.

Impressive this season, Thunder striker Jamie Reed went down in the area on three minutes, but his appeals for a spot kick went unrewarded.

Reed, who has scored six times this season, and left midfielder Scott Bulloch misread each other at least three times in the opening five minutes.

The first chance of the game fell for Ukalovski, but he nodded his header from a long Bahnsen throw in directly at Nikola Roganovic in the Gully goal.

The home side struggled to penetrate in the final third with both Hockless and Vargas shooting well over inside the opening 10 minutes.

The English-born Reed was struggling to make an impact as the lone man up front, with Gully central defensive pairing Mile Medjedovic and Daniel Jones keeping him under wraps.

But the striker did help assist Ukalovski for the opener on 27 minutes.

His turn and touch went over the top as he went sprawling to the ground, but Ukalovski beat his marker to the ball and sent a stinging shot into the top corner of the net, despite a hand on the ball from Roganovic.

Former Perth Glory man Bulloch sent a lovely long pass in Reed's direction on 35 minutes, but it ran away from the striker with the breeze.

Gully made a tactical substitution a minute later as Groenewald came on in place of Timothy Gould to aid the attacking thrusts.

It was Thunder who should have doubled its lead five minutes into the second half.

A ricochet in its attacking third fell for Reed, but Roganovic denied the front man with a fine save.

There were danger signs for the visitors on 65 minutes when Burton sent a header inches over the bar from a whipping Vargas free kick.

The visitors had another decent opportunity on 75 minutes after Bulloch lofted a free kick into the area, but Ryan Davidson's shot from the penalty area was blocked.

Gully had its equalizer courtesy of Groenewald three minutes later.

Vargas put Burton behind on the left and he allowed striker Brent Fisher to make a dummy run to the front post before spotting the youngster, who applied a simple finish into the roof of the net.

Gully piled on the pressure and almost found a second less than 60 seconds later.

Youngster Anderson put a cross in from the right but it was inches from the head of Sanders.

As it fell for Burton, his goal bound shot from the corner of the area was cleared off the line.

Similarly, Burton sent a shot from the same position wide a minute later.

But the Thunder failed to deny the Cavaliers a second in a frantic final 10 minutes.

Vargas put a long ball over the top for Sanders to run onto, allowing the striker to coolly finish with keeper Stuart Webster approaching.

A minute later, Thunder defender Aron Wilford forced Roganovic into a brilliant one-handed save and Bahnsen headed the resultant corner wide as Gully ran down the clock.