Bunyip strikes hard in derby day demolition
Football always has some amazing rivalries and on Saturday it was no exception.
With the scheduled Cardinia derby between Bunyip Strikers and Pakenham United scheduled to be played at 5pm and 7pm with reserves and seniors respectively, Football Victoria had ordered the "high risk" fixture to be played at an earlier time due to the "severity and magnitude" of the clubs' previous meetings and long standing history.
Referees were appointed from New South Wales for the grudge match to ensure that the match between the 'Yippers' and the 'Panthers' was played in the best conditions possible.
The day was full of anticipation as the new state-of-theart football facilities at Bunyip Recreation Reserve were put to use for only the third time this season.
Seniors: Bunyip 6 – 1 Pakenham
After an amazing comeback win last weekend against Barton, Bunyip's tail was wagging going into a very highly awaited match against Pakenham for the first Cardinia derby of 2024.
Coach Garon Pearce's side have just started to find some good form with his boys starting to really hit the ground running.
Pakenham was able to reduce Matthew Vigilanti's suspension from two weeks down to one, meaning he was available for match and allowing Pakenham to go into the game with their strongest squad on paper.
Form has been hard to come by for Dom Vigilanti's men as they have begun the season with an 11-0 demolition job from Aspendale, sitting zero and three to start the season and not having scored a single goal, conceding 17 in the progress.
Both teams began the game with big ambitions of grabbing all three points against their most bitter rivals and had their first share of chances in front of the goal, but it would be former Pakenham player Macaulay Howard in just the second minute of the game who sent the home supporters and Bunyip Ultras into raptures as he put away a solid header from a long throw in by tall six foot four centre half Liam Lenders.
Showing where his allegiances lie, Howard went on to show his Bunyip Strikers logo tattoo to the away supporters to stamp his authority on the game as well as set the tone.
12 minutes later, Tynan North shot his luck with a half volley outside the eighteen yard box with an absolute thunderbolt into the right top corner past the Panthers' goal to make it two-nil.
Pressure built again on the Pakenham back three as Liam Lenders again joined in the fun, this time with a rebound off the Pakenham keeper to make it three.
The mountain to climb already for the away side the goals didn't stop there.
With the Pakenham side praying for the half time whistle and thinking you could not have any more "worldies," Yippers star player Liam Jones smashed a 30-yard rocket from nowhere to send the home side and supporters into a footballing frenzy.
The half time whistle came with coach Vigilanti scratching his head and Bunyip player-coach Pearce pumped with confidence.
Pakenham got the ball rolling in the second half with a point to prove, scoring a goal in the 60th minute to pull the growing margin back. Vasileios Haldezos was able to grab the tap in across goal.
Not satisfied with his first goal of the year contender, hot property Liam Jones snagged another amazing goal outside the 18-yard box with a jet into the left bottom corner.
To make matters worse for the away side, the referee blew for a penalty and yellow card for a holding of the shirt. The penalty was taken by Jones but was unfortunately saved by the Pakenham keeper.
To put the maroon cherry on top for the Strikers, Jones was finally able to finish the game and put Pakenham to the slaughter with a perfect one-on-one finish to grab his hat-trick and his seventh goal in three consecutive derbies.
"An amazing effort from the boys bro. Couldn't of ask for a better performance," captain Dion Pavlic said after the final whistle.
The Yippers collected the three points with United not winning a derby since 2021.
Reserves: Bunyip 3 – 1 Pakenham
The reserves match kicked off the day as both sides began with good flowing and intense football that created chances at both sides of the pitch.
Bunyip were the first to draw blood as skipper Kieran Lenders found himself one on one with the Pakenham keeper and managed to score after both Panthers centre-backs misplaced a pass.
Lenders was able to put the ball around the keeper and tuck away the first goal of the game.
Lenders was able to put a second goal away as Bunyip Strikers club legend Ryan Fitzgerald made a chance out of nothing and set up and amazing ball for the Yippers captain, Lenders scoring a header from the six yard box.
The ball was perfectly shaped on the outside of the boot for a nice assist from the club's record appearance holder.
Pakenham came out strong in the second half as they continued to put pressure on the Bunyip net but amazing saves from keeper Noah Taylor and goal-saving slide tackles from centre backs Luke Jeric, Ali Clouston and Angus Sheppard were able to keeper the Panthers at bay.
Pakenham finally found the net as Tluang Khenglawt was able to score a spill from Taylor.
With 10 minutes left in the game, tackles began to fly as both sets of teams received two yellow cards each for late challenges. Appropriate for a derby.
Captain Lenders and former Pakenham legend - and now Bunyip hero - Alex Herrera had both gone into the referee's book. Pakenham duo Khenglawt and Jacob Smit also received a booking each.
With Pakenham having their fair share of opportunities to equalise, Patrick Lokujong slotted a James Herra through ball to all but win the game for the Strikers as he wheeled away in celebration to a very happy home crowd, Bunyip coach Keegan Bloomfield very satisfied with his teams efforts.
Other results:
Senior Women's State 5: Bunyip Strikers 4 – 8 Aspendale.
Metro Under 11s: Bunyip Strikers 3 – 2 Hampton Park. Metro Under 9s: Bunyip Strikers 0 – 3 Aspendale. Metro Under 7s: Bye.