MULLER DOUBLE GIVES PROSPECT VICTORY

Flame’s unbeaten run ended abruptly following Prospect United’s 3-1 win at Ian McLennan Park on Saturday night. Nicholas Valjak opened the scoring for Prospect before Jonathan Mushaba equalised for Flame however two unanswered second half goals to David Moriera-Muller proved the difference.

Flame almost got off to the perfect start when just after three minutes, Sandy Lowcock used his pace to get past a defender before cutting the ball back to Hiroaki Ushijima whose powerful shot was charged down by Moriera-Muller.

Less than a minute later, some good Flame possession ended with Joel Dowling taking a snapshot on goal from just outside the box however his shot went well over the bar as Flame looked ominous early.

Flame continued to dominate the first 15 minutes of the game however they were a little sloppy in the final third as they could not really muster any clear chances whilst Prospect on the other hand just had not got themselves going to this point,

This all changed on 18 minutes when with virtually their first attacking raid, Prospect went in front. A nice ball across the park found Nicholas Valjak lurking just outside the penalty area. He managed to turn back inside to create just a yard of space before hitting a shot that looked to deceive Matt White as it nestled inside the near post.

Flame were back in control of possession soon enough, but they were caught offside countless times as Prospect continued to frustrate them using a high and flat defensive line.

The home side finally got their reward on 27 minutes with almost an identical goal to that of Prospect. Justin Smith found Jonathan Mushaba with a long cross field pass. Mushaba controlled the ball well bringing it down early before cutting back on his defender and beating Mario Farias down low. Both teams scoring with their first shot on target.

Valjak was looking threatening for Prospect throughout the first half and on 36 minutes, he managed to get around Daniel Lucas on the left before putting in a cross that Robert Bozic just couldn’t get on the end of.

A Flame freekick just a few minutes later from out wide was viciously whipped in by Matthew Mazevski. Liam Polinsky forced to desperately clear the ball from danger as several Flame players were lurking in behind.

With scores level going into the break, neither side would have been too pleased with how things were perhaps going as both sides appeared to be lacking cohesion.

In a sign of things to come, Prospect opened the second stanza the brighter of the two sides. In fact, just two minutes after the restart, a Prospect freekick somehow found Moriera-Muller on the far post however his header back across goal was well handled by White.

Just five minutes later, Prospect took the lead again. A cross from the right found Bozic on the far post just three yards out. His goal bound header was blocked by Kasey Kulcsar who was adjudged to have used his hand in the process. As a result, a penalty kick was awarded and Kulcsar was perhaps fortunate to have only received a caution. Morieira-Muller stepped up and blasted his left foot shot into the top left corner whilst sending White the wrong way.

Prospect now had their tails up and were looking confident and in control. Just minutes after the goal, Prospect’s Alexander Gorgievski found space however his shot from just outside the penalty area didn’t trouble White.

On 56 minutes, Kwangmook Lim nearly extended Prospect’s lead as he weaved past two defenders before unleashing a shot that skimmed of the dewey surface with White scrambling across to the ball. White managed to get a hand to the shot and deflect it onto the post however Carlo Stella managed to clear danger as Prospect players were prowling.

Prospect got their third on 68 minutes as the normally sound defensive line for Flame was looking out of sorts. A corner from the left found Morieira-Muller who unchallenged from five yards out made no mistake as Flame looked on in despair. The Prospect centre back netting his second as he looked to put the game to bed.

The home side made several substitutions over the last 20 minutes in a last ditch effort to save the game however even though Flame had the bulk of possession for the remainder of the game, they barely threatened the Prospect goal with Farias largely a spectator.

The game petered out with Prospect seeing off a 3-1 victory. Flame on the other hand were far from their best as they were beaten for the first time this season.

Coach George Kulcsar was not mixing his words post game as he too was left disappointed with the result.

Certainly not one of our better performances tonight which is disappointing as we have now fallen further behind the top two. We can talk and train technique and discuss tactics, but I felt the mental side of our game especially in the second half was poor.

In the earlier game, two first half goals to Prospect was enough to see them beat Flame 2-0 in the Under 20.

Round 7 | Saturday 29 August 2020 @ Ian McLennan Park

South Coast Flame – 1 (Mushaba 27’)
Prospect United – 2 (Valjak 18’, Moriera-Muller 52’ pen., 67’)

Line Ups:
SOUTH COAST FLAME: 1. WHITE, Matthew, 25. DOWLING, Joel, 15. KULCSAR, Kasey, 7. LOWCOCK, Sandy, 4. LUCAS, Daniel, 30. MUSHABA, Jonathan, 11. USHIJIMA, Hiroaki, 6. SMITH, Justin, 10. MAZEVSKI, Matt, 5. STELLA, Carlo, 33. PAULL, Luke.
Substitutes: 34. RIDLEY, Preston, 9. CONNELL, Louis, 13. PAPPAS, Alex, 29. MORGAN, Lachlan, 21. KRISHBAN, Mohamad.

PROSPECT UNITED: 1. FARIAS, Mario, 16. BOZIC, Robert, 17. COTTON, Andrew, 12. GORGIEVSKI, Alexander, 14. HEAD, Samuel, 2. KASUNIC, Thomas, LIM, Kwangmook, 6. MAHAJLOVIC, Daniel, 4. MORIERA-MULLER, David, 3. POLINSKY, Liam, 7. VALJAK, Nicholas.
Substitutes: 25. JONSSON, Jade, 11. LAM, Benjamin, 5. MOROSIN, Matthew, 19. ZAHRA, Simon, 18. SHATNAWI, Abdullah, 15. PARKES, Brandon.

Report for South Coast Flame | @SCFlameFC
Photo courtesy Nic Coutts