SOUTH COAST KEEP FINALS HOPES ALIVE WITH WIN OVER MINOTAURS 

South Coast Flame have recorded their first win in 8 weeks after comfortably defeating Hurstville City Minotaurs 4-1 at Ian McLennan Park on Saturday Evening. South Coast had four different goal-scorers for the first time this season, in what was a comfortable win over the struggling Minotaurs.

South Coast are back in finals contention and have climbed to fourth, whilst the Minotaurs remain bottom of the ladder.

The Flame had the brighter start out of the two teams, as they looked to put the Minotaurs to the sword.

In the 18th minute, Louis Connell and Matthew Mazevski combined to feed the ball into the path of Hiroaki Ushijima, whose shot was saved by Gareth Jamieson.

Mazevski and Ushijima were at it again in the 25th minute as Mazevski was able to feed the ball into the path of the Japanese attacker. Ushijima was able to get a toe to the ball before Jamieson was able to cover the Minotaurs’ defence, but the ball hit the post and narrowly missed the goal.

Ushijima would have his goal just a minute later, after Jayden Smileski was able to cross the ball from the left wing into the box, before Ushijima was able to neatly place the ball into the back of the net.

Alex Boardman scored his maiden goal for the Flame in the 29th minute, after a piece of individual brilliance from Mazevski allowed the creative midfielder to strike the ball towards goal, before the ball ricocheted off the right-post and into the path of Boardman. Boardman finished the ball into the back of the net, and the Flame had their second goal.

Mazevski had a goal of his own in the 33rd minute after he pounced on a poor turnover of possession from the Minotaurs, and the attacking midfielder made no mistake in clinically finishing his chance.

South Coast were in dreamland as they headed into the sheds 3 goals to the good.

The Minotaurs began the second-half more lively, and has a chance of their own in the 46th minute when Tatsuya Sato unleashed a left-foot strike towards goal. Sato’s strike hit the right-post, with the Flame counting their blessings that the strike didn’t end up in the back of the net.

The Minotaurs won a penalty in the 52nd minute for a foul inside the Flame’s penalty area. Keifer Dotti smashed the ball into the top left corner, leaving Matthew White with no chance of saving the shot.

Hurstville looked more dangerous in the opening period of the second-half, but the Minotaurs couldn’t take advantage of their dominance.

South Coast put the result beyond doubt in the 69th minute when Yuki Mandai was able to score the Flame’s fourth goal. Smileski and Mazevski produced a brilliant combination that lead to a strike on goal, and Mandai followed through the shot which was parried by Jamieson.

The game seemed to settle for the Flame, as they controlled the majority of possession for the final 20 minutes.

South Coast secured their first win since their match against Hurstville Zagreb FC in Round 11, as they look to push for a finals spot.

South Coast’s U/20’s suffered a disappointing loss in the earlier game, going down 4-1 to the Minotaurs. Alex Galbraith was the Flame’s lone goal-scorer, in what was quite possibly the Flame’s most disappointing performance of the season. The side will look to climb back into finals contention when they play University of NSW next weekend.

South Coast suffered a 1-0 defeat to the 2nd placed Minotaurs in the U/18’s match. The U/18’s will be looking for a win against University of NSW next weekend, in what is shaping up to be a do-or-die clash for the young side.

South Coast travel to Seymour Shaw Park next Sunday to take on University of NSW. All 3 games will have significant bearing on whether our squads can make the semi-finals when the regular season concludes in a few weeks time. U/18’s kick off at 1pm, U/20’s kick off at 3pm and First Grade kicks off at 5pm.

Report by Jarrod Pollard.