South Coast Flame welcomed Hawkesbury City to Ian McLennan Park on Saturday.

The sides performed well picking up three wins a draw and a loss across the five matches.

U13 Boys | South Coast Flame 0 Hawkesbury City 1

The boys were looking to build on the back of two strong wins to cement their spot in the top four. 

A cheap turnover in midfield and poor transition resulted in Hawkesbury scoring the opening goal from their only decent opportunity in the game. 

Even after this the team didn’t step up and play their normal brand of football, trailing at the break. 

The second half improved a lot, Flame executing their playing style to a higher degree, resulting in the game being camped in the opposition half – the Flame goalkeeper Declan Pearce only touching the ball a couple of times to help the team maintain possession. 

Although the play was dominated, slow ball movement and poor decision making in the front 3rd meant Flame’s only chances were speculative efforts from distance, and even though the team pushed, couldn’t create a decent opportunity to equalise, going down 1-0. 

Complacency may have played a part in what was a disappointing loss but a great learning opportunity for the boys. 

Player of the Week: Will-Egan Brown 

Will has been shifted from his normal midfield position to centreback over the last couple of weeks, and his attitude to learning the new position has been nothing short of what we ask for at the Flame. 

On the weekend he showed calmness and composure to help the team maintain possession and build play, as well as winning his individual battles to regain possession in critical moments.

U14 Boys | South Coast Flame 2 Hawkesbury City 0 

For the under-14s boys, it was a feeling of deja vu. 

As from the start of the game against Hawkesbury, the side created chances. 

With Hawkesbury playing a very high line. 

The 14s struggled to hold their runs to stay onside and fortunately, playing to the whistle and pouncing on a defensive lapse to take a 1-0 lead into half time. 

The second half was about moving the ball side a lot quicker and converting our chances. With some exceptional football, the side again unlocked the opposition defence, moving the ball across the backline and playing a through into Jake Morris’ path who unselfishly squared the ball for a Zeke Frino tap in. 

On the stroke of full time, Harry Allman dribbled his way from centre back into midfield, playing a pass to Will Bain who unfortunately had his initial shot saved by the keeper, but with Willem Robaard poking the ball over the line. 

Player of the Week: Harry Allman

A resolute captains performance against Hawkesbury, keeping the opposition at bay for 60 minutes. Leading by example at training and games and pushing the team to always be at their best.

U15 Boys | South Coast Flame 4 Hawkesbury 0 

Another very good result this week for the Flame under-15s. 

Hawkesbury played a 4-4-2 formation which did cause South Coast issues in the first half.

However, as the game progressed, the side adapted to control the match. 

The side led 2-0 at half time through goals through Thomas Bent-Genge and Noah Crapis 

Flame changed the system at half time and the boys implemented that very well in the second half. 

They were very disciplined and went on to score another two goals through Lachlan Flood and Blake Pearson the boys put on a very solid performance.

Player of the Week: Lachlan Flood

Worked hard in the midfield and score a good individual goal.

U16 Boys | South Coast Flame 3 Hawkesbury City 1

As the boys lined up against Hawkesbury city we were looking to continue our great run of form. The boys started lively, controlling the tempo and causing Hawkesbury lots of problems in the front third of the field. 

With a lot of possession and creating multiple chances, it wasn’t until the 25th min when Jay De Gouveia would open the scoring for the flame. 

After dominating possession in the first half we would only go into the break 1-0 up. 

As the second half kicked off it didn’t take long for the boys to double their lead and in the 47th minute, Jyden Harb would finish off a well-executed counter-attack. 

The boys would continue to control possession and the game and finished off with a late goal in the 75min from Will Aston. 

As the game came to a close it would be Hawkesbury who spoiled our clean sheet with a late goal in the 79min. 

The score would finish 3-1 to the flame with the boys now focusing on our catch up game against the Newcastle Jets the next day. 

Player of the Week: Josh Bussoletti 

An excellent performance in all the main moments in the game.

U18 Boys | South Coast Flame 1 Hawkesbury City 1

No match report made available. 

Round 2 Catch Up

The under-16s and under-18s also played on Sunday travelling to face the highly-fancied Newcastle Jets at Valentine Sports Park in catch-up games from Round 2. 

The under-16s went down 5-2 while the under-18s lost 4-0.