The South Coast Flame were on the road again this week for the opening match of the second half of the season. Flame was eager to start round 2 off right with a 3-2 victory over Inter Lions FC.

Inter had the first chance at opening the score line with a shot just outside the box, however, it was sprayed wide failing to test Flame keeper, Isabella Williams.

Flame retaliated with their own opening chance after a through ball from Alexis Malizis landed at the feet of Paula Mitchell in the wide channel. Mitchell drove at speed towards goal although couldn’t manage to get enough power on the shot to truly test the keeper.

Both teams had their fair share of half chances in the first 25 minutes although struggled to polish them off.

However, the game seemed to shift paces once Flame found the back of the net in the 30^th minute. A collective high press was seemingly too much pressure for Inter, resulting in a stray pass at the edge of the box with the keeper out of position leaving an easy finish for Mitchell.

Flame was then set alight scoring another goal in the 35th minute.  After another effective high press, Flame won the ball in their final third leaving fullback, Mikayla De Jong driving into the box and firing a shot straight past Inters’ keeper.

Flame did well to keep the high intensity until the half time whistle maintaining majority of the possession.

Flame headed into second half with confidence, and it wasn’t long before they added to the scoreline once again. A dangerous ball from Malizis in over the top resulted in Emily Kostovski charging into the box and chipping the keeper, taking her team into a 3-0 lead in the 54^th minute.

However, Flame couldn’t manage to keep their momentum giving Inter a sniff in the 61^st minute. After change of possession centrally, Emma Chiew fed Caitlin Webster in behind and managed to find the back of the net from an unexpected angle.

Inter took the goal into their stride scoring again in the 75^th minute. After some beautiful combination play and dribbling finesse from Webster and Alicia Lee. Lee finished off a simple back post goal giving Inter a fighting chance.

Inter Lions continued to create chances generating a finger biting finish to the game for Flame fans. Notably, Flame did well to keep their lead under excessive pressure and were able to head back down the coast with 3 points.