Strikers strike out

BUNYIP and District Soccer Club opened its 2011 campaign at home against Old Brighton Grammarians, but couldn’t do enough to win.
Confidence among the squad was high prior to kick-off, with Bunyip adding some talented new players to its squad over the pre-season, making competition for a place in the starting 11 tough.
After a good result in the club’s pre-season, the optimism was to be crushed in the opening 10 minutes when a defensive clearance went wrong and left goal keeper Riley Kop unable to do a thing.
This threw a challenge down to the new-look Strikers outfit, who had to fight hard to get back in the game.
In the 40th minute, a Jack Manson cross allowed captain Craig Scerri to capitalise on some scrambled play inside the six-yard box to put the game at 1-1 going in to half-time.
After half-time, both teams came out aiming to break the game open.
Bunyip played a great passing game that gave the wingers opportunity to put crosses in to the strikers. In the 50th minute, Ben Frannsen, coming off the bench and on to the right wing, struck a magnificent shot on goal only to be denied by the cross bar.
Frannsen was bringing his side back into the game with his play also putting a cross on to the head of fellow wingman Ed Codd, who also managed to cannon his header into the crossbar.
New recruit Frank Zaffina was a powerhouse in the midfield, giving great transitional balls to his team-mates and a hard edge that had his opposition second-guessing its moves.
With both teams scrapping out a messy final 10 minutes, the game stayed locked at 1-1.
Bunyip’s next game will see them take part in their first-ever local derby when they travel to Warragul to take on Warragul United.