South Coast Flame suffered their first loss at home this season to an energetic Hurstville FC.
Hurstville got off to the best possible start albeit a little fortunate when inside two minutes, a dangerous cross from Juan Da Silva was turned into his own goal by Samuel Alston.
Flame quickly got back into their grove with some sustained possession-based football.
On 12 minutes, a ricochet fell nicely to Zander Alston whose header hit the post.
Flame had a golden chance to square it up on 20 minutes when James Baldacchino fires a perfect pass to Genki Iwata however his scoring touch alluded him as he skied his shot with just Luke Babic to beat.
A few minutes later, Michael Trajkovski managed to finish off a chance for Flame however he was adjudged off-side as the frustration started to grow for the home side.
On 33 minutes, Trajkovski danced his way through a couple of defenders before aiming for the bottom corner. Babic produced a find save with his feet with the rebound falling to Jyden Harb, whose spectacular volley once again produced an outstanding save from Babic.
Hurstville were pegged back for much of the half, and they seemed content to absorb the pressure trusting that their sturdy defensive line would hold.
Just a few minutes before half time, Iwata combined with Trajkovski who saw his shot skirt by the far post.
The first half ended in a flurry. Firstly, a snapshot from Harb from the edge of the box had Babic beaten as the ball cleared the cross bar. Seconds later, Declan Shelton put in a pinpoint cross to Andre Guzman who headed down towards goal forcing an amazing save from Rocco Zinnato.
The second half saw an early awkward chance to Hurstville. Shelton’s cross was a little high and long however it nearly found it’s way in as it bounced up off the cross bar.
It was more of the same from Flame as they tried turning up the heat. On 52 minutes, Zander Alston’s cross found Trajkovski on the far post whose downward header somehow was stopped by Babic on the goal line between his legs.
Just a couple of minutes later, Zander Alston was played through however it was Babic again who came to the rescue for Hurstville saving with his feet.
As so happens in football, teams get punished for not taking their chances and on 58 minutes a corner from Hurstville was flicked in on the near post by Shelton doubling the visitors’ lead.
It seems to knock the stuffing out of Flame. For an hour, they appeared to dominate possession, chances and play and yet found themselves two goals down.
Just a minute later, Da Silva stuck the cross bar with a thunderbolt as Hurstville grew with confidence.
It was Flame now who were on the back foot as Guzman struck the post on an efficient counterattack as the game started to get stretched.
On 81 minutes, George Salachoris finished off a swift move courtesy of a deflection to put Hurstville three up and all but secure the points.
Flame did manage a consolation goal into injury time when Iwata bundled the ball home after a goal mouth scramble.
In the earlier game, an early goal to the visitors was enough to see them upset our Under 20’s who despite most of the possession and chances were unable to find a way through.
Comments are closed.