South Coast Flame travelled to face Western NSW last Saturday at Proctor Park.

The Flame continued its positive run of results across the board with three wins and one draw on the day.

U13 Boys | Western NSW 1 South Coast Flame 3

In freezing conditions, the Flame travelled to Bathurst to take on a Western NSW side who were sitting above South Coast on the table. 

The team had a sense of revenge on their minds as Western knocked Flame out of Bathurst Cup earlier in the year. 

Flame started the game struggling to find their rhythm with possession as Western looked eager putting the side under pressure early on.

South Coast weathered the storm and started finding their range and creating good opportunities however the side couldn’t convert.

Through good pressing, Flame forced Western into playing backwards, with Ollie Green applying great pressure on their centre back and goalkeeper to force an error and open the scoring just before half time – A well-deserved lead. 

The 2nd half started much like Flame ended the first, Western changing their approach and forcing the side into an error in the back third, even though the Flame recovered well the ball fell nicely to their striker in the box to equalise. 

The reaction of the Flame was excellent, Ben Parry cutting the ball back from the left to find Jacob Tucker who finished first time with his right foot – putting the visitors back in front.

The game continued to be a tight affair, Flame still dominant with possession but struggled to break a more determined Western. 

However, the third goal finally came when Tucker out muscles his defender and slipped Alex Bosevski behind the defence, who also muscled his defender and slotted calmly past the keeper. 

The boys held out for a 3-1 win to back up a strong performance. 

Player of the Week: Kiran Dhami 

Everyone put in a performance that put them in contention for player of the week, however, Kiran executed his player tasks perfectly throughout the game in defence and attack, nullifying the opposition’s main strength and help the team progress the ball forward through some great passing and attacking runs.

U14 Boys | Western NSW 1 South Coast Flame 1

South Coast Flame were pressed hard all over the park and struggled to keep possession and control the game to the extent the side would have liked. 

The side went a goal down in the first half after a long ball over the top and Western NSW’s speedy striker beat everyone else to the ball to round the Flam keeper and score. 

Flame came out in the second half with a bit more purpose and scored the equaliser through Jimmy Skarvelis after good lead-up work down the left. 

The game ended 1-1, a fair result in the end. 

Player of the Week: Zeke Frino 

Implementing the player tasks from this weeks training focus, being comfortable and composed on the ball under pressure.

U15 Boys | Western NSW 0 South Coast Flame 2

The under-15s came away from the long drive to Bathurst with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Western NSW FC. 

A first-half strike from Blake Pearson and a second-half chipped-effort from Dylan Griffiths found the net to give the boys maximum points. 

In a tough away fixture where the boys struggled to find their rhythm, the boys responded well to some half time tweaks to control the lion’s share of possession throughout the second half.

Blake Pearson was threatening throughout with some great runs, while Alessandro Calmasini demonstrated great maturity at the back to cut out Western’s counter-attacking efforts. 

Player of the Week: Alessandro Calmasini 

Alessandro helped his team navigate a difficult period of the game with some good interceptions and tackles, and he constantly provided support from the back to help the team shift play in the flames own efforts to create goal-scoring opportunities. Well done Alessandro

U16 Boys | Western NSW 0 South Coast Flame 2

Flame went into this one looking to bounce back from the side’s first defeat of the season last week the boys knew it was going to be a tough encounter. 

The boys started the game well creating some early chances but were unable to convert them. It was in the 21st minute when Zac Birch found the net and then Keegan Rea three minutes later in the 24th to make it 2-0. 

It would remain 2-0 going into the break. 

As the second half kicked off it was the flame who would continue to create the chances but still, South Coast were unable to convert. 

The stats would show 19 shots but only nine on target. 

The game would finish 2-0 to the flame in what was a comfortable win but you could see the boys were a little bit disappointed in not converting more chances. 

All in all, it was a great response to the side’s first defeat last week with the boys travelling home with three points and a clean sheet. 

Player of the Week: Zac Birch

Zac put in an excellent performance on matchday capping it off with the opening goal for the side.