Title - FLAME THWARTED BY FANTASTIC FRY

 

South Coast Flame travelled to Gissing Park to face a Wagga City Wanderers outfit determined to pick up their first win of the season. The home side found the back of the net either side of the half-time to secure the win with goals coming through Tyler Allen and Cameron Duncan.

Flame had the brightest chance of the opening exchanges with Cameron Hanson pouncing on a defensive blunder eight minutes in. He fired a shot for the bottom left corner but City captain and goalkeeper Robert Fry palmed the ball wide.

Wagga took the lead in the 17th minute through wideman Allen. The home won a corner which made its way into Allen who was able to nod home from close range. South Coast nearly hit straight back through Dion Sterjovski but his goal-bound effort was parried wide by Fry.

The Flame had the last three chances of the first period. The first two were from distance with Hanson and Caleb Grace both seeing the shots go wide while a minute out from halftime Sterjovski dribbled infield before firing from just inside the box but once again Fry was up to the task. This would see the home side take the one-goal lead into halftime.

The second half did not start well for the Flame with Wagga finding the back of the net in the 48th minute. Wayward defending allowed Duncan into the left of the box before the hitting across goalkeeper Matt White and finding the bottom right corner.

Over the following 10 minutes, South Coast managed to carve out three good opportunities, however, they were all thwarted by Fry. In the 50th minute, Hanson bustled into the box but his blasting effort was forced wide, three minutes later Hanson had another chance off a corner but his swinging strike was once again denied by the keeper. Sterjovski was played through on goal in the 55th minute, he aimed for the bottom right corner but Fry blocked the shot.

On the hour mark, there was a 25-minute stoppage after an awkward challenge saw Caylum Barbar sustain an injury to his hip. The ambulance was called as medical staff from both sides attended to him. Fortunately, we can report he left hospital on Sunday morning.

Within five minutes of the match restarting, both sides had a half chance of notching a goal. In the 62nd minute, substitute Johnny Vicoroski cut the ball across the goal but a lunging Hanson couldn’t make contact to tuck home and two minutes later Prince Thompson got on the end of a fine cross but his poor effort trailed to the right.

With a quarter of an hour remaining, the Wanderers would have had their third had it not been for a desperate clearance of the line. Allen was able to beat White in a one on one but his as the ball was about to reach the goal a retreating Djordje Uzelac raked the ball clear.

In the final stages of the match, Flame had a few efforts from distance through Vicoroski, Sterjovski and Martin Thompson but none were able to hit the target. In the final minute of the match, Matt Mazevski whacked the ball from inside the D but it was straight into the arms of the City keeper. The match came to its conclusion with the Wagga City Wanderers winning by two goals to nil.

After the match, a frustrated White admitted it was disappointing to be leaving Wagga Wagga without the three points but he held his hands up to a resolute Wanderers outfit, “Credit to Wagga and especially their goalkeeper who pulled off a number of great saves today.” The result puts the Flame in 10th with a match in hand which is set to be played on ANZAC Day where the side will visit Progress Park to take on FC Gazy Auburn.

Once again, the under 20s were the club’s star side with the boys securing a comprehensive 6-0 win. Johnny Vicoroski opened the scoring before captain Daniel Lucas headed home before the break to give the Flame a two-goal advantage. The side didn’t relent in the second half where they laid on four more goals. Aoto Saito netted a penalty while Vicoroski and Lucas bagged a brace each, the final goal came through Jacob Pauline who scorched 20 metre half volley. After the match, under 20s coach Neil Mineef was encouraged by his side’s ability to lift their standards as the match went on, “The longer the game goes on they seem to go harder, they get into space and look to play the ball around.” The result pushes the side up into the top five where they sit in 4th.

In the under 18s, a slow start saw the side behind inside the first ten minutes with a goal from Jacob Ochieng. The score was levelled when Ethan Lehn converted a penalty, however, a double from Jacob Mitchell saw the home side lead 3-1 at the break. The Flame reemerged in the second half with a renewed sense of urgency and managed to test the Wanderers on a handful of occasions. A second goal was pulled back late on through Harry Lloyd to make for a dramatic finish but it wasn’t to be with the score finishing 3-2. This result leaves the under 18s in 8th.

 

Listen to the full post-match interviews with Matt White and Neil Mineeff on this week’s FSC Weekly.

 

Saturday 21 April @ Gissing Oval

 

Wagga City Wanderers - 2 (ALLEN 17’, DUNCAN 48’)

 

South Coast Flame FC - 0

 

South Coast Flame FC lineup - Matt WHITE, Andrew BOVA, Andrew CHRISTIE, C HANSON, Kenny JAMES, Matt MAZEVSKI, Julio MUSHABA, Caleb GRACE, Djordje UZELAC, Doug WOODIWISS

 

Subs - Martin THOMPSON (on for JAMES), Colin HEAPY, Johnny VICOROSKI (on for MUSHABA), Wade WILTON (on for HANSON)

 

Coach - Paul ROBAARD

 

Report and photo by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela