Liam Unicomb scored his seventh goal in as many games to give his South Coast United side the three points against a lively Shell Cove at Ian McLellan Park on Sunday afternoon.

United took the lead after 24 minutes when an unlucky Ljupco Naumovski put the ball into his own net, but Kazuhiro Obata put the visitors level ten minutes later, and the match could have gone either way before Unicomb snatched the winner with six minutes remaining.

The result takes South Coast United up four spots on the Premier League ladder to eighth, their highest position in 2016. Shell Cove, meanwhile, sit just two points off the bottom due to their recent three points deduction.

The game began scrappily, with neither keeper being forced to work for the first 23 minutes. Ricky Bertakis was United's main target man up front, with Unicomb down the left, though the United top scorer was well handled by Alexander Crane in the Shell Cove defence.  For the visitors, Kurdvan Abduljabbar was the lone figure up front, and he barely got a touch early on.

The opening goal, in the 24th minute, came out of nothing. Bertakis took a corner short to Dinko Terzic, who floated the ball into the box. Yaturo Oda in the Shell Cove goal failed to take cleanly, there was a scramble on the goal line, with Naumovski attempting to clear, but prodding the ball over the line as United's captain Valic strode in to make sure the goal counted.

Having played provider for the opening goal, Terzic almost doubled the lead himself moments later, when he fired a volley onto the angle of the bar and post after a neat lay off from Aden Wade.

But suddenly the game opened up and there were chances at both ends.

Jonathan Barzel forced a superb save from Jason Bleakley in the United goal, before Unicomb saw the ball hit the back of the net at the other end, but the referee had blown for an infringement on the Shell Cove keeper and the score remained at 1-0.

It didn't take long for Shell Cove to equalise though. It was Barzel again who was in the thick of the action, floating a ball into danger, with Bleakley blinded by the sun. The ball was headed off the line but straight to Obata, who had a simple tap-in from two yards out.

And Shell Cove were unlucky not to take the lead before half time when Barzel went for goal himself, forcing Bleakley to parry the ball at the near post, and once again the ball went free in the box, but nobody was on hand this time to put the finishing touch.

The sides went in all square at 1-1, a fair score line from an even first half.

South Coast came out for the second half looking the hungrier, keeping Oda busy in the Shell Cove goal in the early exchanges, with the visitors' glove man twice keeping out Terzic with reflex saves. 

With no sign of a goal for Shell Cove, Jordan Hassiem was brought on to add a bit of pace and breadth to the visitors' attack, but without really threatening the United goal.

Unicomb, at the other end, was still trying to see off the tight man-marking of Crane. Just past the hour mark, Wade sent a long ball forward, which Oda came out to meet, but he had to leave his area, allowing Unicomb to nip in and take the ball with an open goal ahead of him. But even then, Crane somehow got back to slide in and force the ball away for a corner, when a goal seemed certain.

With ten minutes remaining Shell Cove almost scored. Hassiem sent in a free kick from 30 yards out; it dipped at the last minute to force the slightest of touches from Bleakley to keep the ball out and concede the corner.

Just minutes later, Unicomb finally made space for himself to get a shot in after picking up the ball from Terzic. His right foot drive flew into the net to keep up the United striker's goal-a-game tally recently, and give his side the lead with five minutes remaining.

In an effort to respond, Shell Cove sent Crane forward, but that left others to deal with Unicomb. A minute later, the United forward should have nabbed his second, when he found himself in possession just six yards out. His split second hesitation allowed Nathan Macgraw to get back, though, and clear this time.

As the clock ticked on towards 90 minutes, there was yet more drama at both ends.

First, substitute Tommy Skara slammed the ball against the bar for United after being set up by Terzic again.

Then Hassiem put Crane through, unmarked on the edge of the area, but the man who had played heroics all afternoon in defence blasted the ball over the bar in the visitors' last chance of the match.

Speaking after the match, player coach Greg Valic said he was very happy to get the three points, but less happy with his side's performance. "We struggled to adapt to the conditions out there, which were wetter than we expected, but we persevered and got there in the end."

On goal scorer Liam Unicomb, Valic said: "He's a bit of a Jamie Vardy at the moment, but the great thing about him is he can play the line, he can play with the ball at his feet and he's a terrific finisher. Credit to them for keeping him quiet for much of the game, but he still did it for us again at the end."

Shell Cove coach Paul Carter paid tribute to Alexander Crane, who had marked Unicomb for much of the match and then went forward and almost equalised at the death. "But we found the pitch hard to play on today, we're short of a few players and we're suffering from the three point deduction, which has really put the pressure on us."

South Coast United - 2 (Naumovski og 24', Unicomb 84')

Shell Cove - 1 (Obata 33')

Ian McLellan Park - Sunday 12 June 2016

Referee: Tony Bosevski

Assistant referees: Tom Butkovic, Greg Reid

South Coast United: Jason Bleakley, Lee Gilroy, Aden Wade (Tommy Skara 89'), Greg Valic, Robbie Brown, Dinko Terzic, Kolan Hmda (Oliver Carrasco 57'), Ricky Bertakis (Gong Jun Lee 68'), Liam Unicomb, Denis Stojic, Yuki Kiyohara (subs not used: Anton Batur, Gerard Stevens)

Shell Cove: Yaturo Oda, Lucas Rossi, Nathan Macgraw, Alexander Crane, Ljupco Naumovski, Jonathan Barzel, Ryan Vandenberg, Kazuhiro Obata, Daniel Vellonio (Filip Angeleski 75'), Shohei Arakawa, Kurdvan Abduljabbar (Jordan Hassiem 54') (sub not used: Gadir Maarbani)

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo: Pedro Garcia (archive)