South Coast Flame made the journey to Progress Park on ANZAC Day to take on FC Gazy Auburn in a deferred Round 1 match. The clash came two weeks after Gazy knocked Flame out of the FFA Cup and on this occasion, two goals in two minutes saw Gazy earn a point with a 3-3 draw.

The home side had the first chance of the match when Panyer Maliet broke into the box but Matt White was up to the task and produced a strong one on one save. Flame had their first opportunity of the match when Matt Mazevski let rip from the edge of the box after eight minutes but the shot went straight into the arms of Pablo Meza.

Flame began to grab control of proceedings with the side managing three solid chances before the half-hour mark. In the 13th minute, Dion Sterjovski cut in and had a pop from 20 metres out that Meza pushed the ball wide for a corner. Seven minutes later a Mazevski free-kick found Julio Mushaba in the box but his header trailed wide and soon after Sterjovski whipped in a cross for Mazevski but his header also failed to hit the target.

The period of dominance finally paid off for South Coast with the side putting themselves two goals up in the space of five minutes. In the 32nd minute, some tidy link-up play between Sterjovski and Mazevski saw the latter cut through the defence before tucking the ball across the goalkeeper and into the bottom right corner. The second goal was a thunderous effort from Doug Woodiwiss who had the ball teed up for him by Mazevski 20 metres from goal before he leathered it into the left upright and into the net.

Flame tried to hold onto their two-goal advantage until halftime but with three minutes remaining Gazy pulled one back. Javier Salinas - who scored Gazy’s two goals against Flame in the FFA Cup - bustled his way into the left of the box before his goal-bound shot deflected off a defender leaving White stranded. This was the last highlight of the opening half with Flame heading into the sheds with a 2-1 lead.

South Coast had the better of the opening stages of the second period with Mazevski and Hanson both having strong chances. Mazevski rifled a shot towards the top left corner but Meza diverted the shot out for a corner off his shoulder while Hanson’s chance came off a quick dropkick from White but Hanson couldn’t direct a lobbed effort on target.

In the 62nd minute, Flame restored their two-goal lead via a deadly counter down the left side of the field, Caleb Grace cut the ball across to Mushaba who was unmarked on the right of the box before tapping it into the net.

The jubilation of scoring was short lived with the home side netting their second and third within five minutes. With 65 minutes on the clock, Salinas played Jack Wetney into the centre of the box with the Solomon Islanders tucking the ball into the bottom left corner. Two minutes later Edilson Silva lost his marker off a corner before thumping a header into the net to level the match.

Flame worked a couple of chances in the final 20 minutes of the match including another vicious long-range effort from Woodiwiss which went just over the bar and another header from Mazevski off a Woodiwiss free kick, however, this one produced an acrobatic save from Meza. Gazy would have the last chance of the match in the 90th minute through Salinas but his strike from the edge of the area was saved by White.

The point lifts South Coast into 7th place and within three points of the top five. After the match, Woodiwiss believed there were positives to take from the match, “I thought it was a much more spirited effort after last weekend’s disappointing loss.” He added how the side rued a number of missed opportunities, “We created enough chances to win the game but we couldn’t quite capitalise on them.” It’s only a three-day turnaround until Flame are back in action with a home match against 4th placed Prospect United.

The under 20s three-match winning streak came to an end due to a 4-2 defeat. The side led at halftime with Johnny Vicoroski continuing his exceptional form by netting a brace. Gazy mounted a second-half comeback to claim the three points with Ben Eisikovich and Michael Perakis scoring two goals each.

The under 18s picked up their first three points of the season with a come from being 2-1 win. Jayden Todorovski put the home side ahead via a free kick inside the opening stages of the match, however, Harry Lloyd levelled the match before halftime. Flame would claim all three points with Jayden Nikolovski scoring with an hour on the clock. Despite the result, the side remain in 8th place.

Wednesday 25 April @ Progress Park

FC Gazy Auburn - 3 (SALINAS 41’, WETNEY 65’, SILVA 67’)

South Coast Flame FC - 3 (MAZEVSKI 32’, WOODIWISS 37’, MUSHABA 62’)

South Coast Flame FC lineup - Matt WHITE, Andrew BOVA, Bojan CARIC, Andrew CHRISTIE, Caleb GRACE, Matt MAZEVSKI, Julio MUSHABA, Dion STERJOVSKI, Martin THOMPSON, Djordje UZELAC, Doug WOODIWISS

Subs - Cameron HANSON (on for CARIC), Colin HEAPY, Jayden SMILESKI, Johnny VICOROSKI (on for STERJOVSKI), Wade WILTON (on for UZELAC)

Coach - Paul ROBAARD

Report and photo by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela