South Coast Flame fielded their youngest ever lineup away to fourth-placed Prospect United on Saturday night with the side able to pull off a remarkable 2-1 victory. Admittedly, United were without captain Thomas Kasunic and key forward Nic Valjak, however, Flame coach Paul Robaard was without a string of First Graders which saw the average age of the match day squad drop to 19 years of age with 11 of the 16 squad members 20-years-old or younger.

Flame midfielder Caleb Grace found the back of the net inside the opening two minutes before Nathan Niski pulled Prospect level before the break. Flame’s defence which included debutants Daniel Lucas and Jarrod Pollard were able to soak up the home pressure in the second period before 21-year-old 'veteran' Dion Sterjovski scored a howitzer in the dying stages. Flame were reduced to 10 when Cameron Hanson picked up his second yellow card but the youngsters - to their immense credit - managed to hold on.

Unfortunately, the younger age groups - who were hampered by the number of players forced to play up an age - both went down with the under 20s losing 1-0 late on while the under 18s conceded four in the second half in a 5-1 defeat.

South Coast harried from the off and were rewarded with an early goal. Wade Wilton laid the ball off to Grace who shuffled past a defender before blasting the ball past Mario Farias in the Prospect goal. The goal was Grace's sixth of the season and fifth in six matches.

The hosts warmed into the game and controlled a majority of the ball for the next half an hour, however, they were limited to efforts from distance with the most notable coming from Joel Bayubahe whose low drive went centimetres wide of the left post.

In the 35th minute, Bayubahe had another opportunity- this time from just inside the right of the area where he slammed the ball across Matt White but he was able to get down and make the save. Prospect made the possession count in the 39th minute when the finally got in and behind Flame’s defence with a cross coming in from the left byline for Niski to tap home at the far post. This saw the sides go into the break level at 1-1

Sterjovski had the first shot of the second half two minutes in with his free kick to the left of the box swirling into the arms of Farias. In the 55th minute, Niski created another opportunity when he jinked into space on the edge of the box before hitting the ball over the top right corner.

Prospect pushed hard for their second with a cross coming off the top left apex in the 64th minute while the woodwork would again come to Flame’s rescue in the 66th minute. Brett Stephens barged his way through on goal and he looked to knock the ball to White’s left but it collided with the outside of the right post before going out.

In the 83rd minute, United substitute Efosa Amegor squandered a glorious chance when he was played into the area before his curling finish failed to sneak inside the right post. A minute later, South Coast managed to push ahead with a contender for Flame’s goal of the season. White knocked the ball into the middle of the park, Sterjovski collected it before blazing around two defenders and scorching the ball past the goalkeeper from 25 metres out.

Flame now needed to hold on for the final stages to claim a momentous victory and the likes of Lucas and Pollard were able to marshal a number of raids away from goal. The task was made even harder when Hanson received his marching orders for a second bookable offence. The side managed to hold on but not before Amegor went one on one with White with seconds remaining only for the Flame skipper to make a clutch save to seal a memorable three points.

After the match, a beaming Robaard was delighted with his side’s output, making special mention of his two centre backs as well as the match winner.

“All the young kids stood up today and took accountability, they stuck to the game plan and they delivered a great result in the end,” he said

“They [Lucas and Pollard] held up play when they needed to, they won a lot of balls, always an option to play out from the back when we won the ball and very composed for two guys on their debut. It was awesome.”

“He [Sterjovski] stepped up today when he needed to, he was one of the senior players at 21 and he got us the three points.”

The win sees South Coast step over Hurstville Minotaurs into eighth and four points off the top five. Next weekend Flame return to Crehan Park for the first time in over a month to take on top of the table Central Coast United who are yet to experience defeat this season with their latest result being a 6-0 win over FC Gazy Auburn.

The under 20s suffered an agonising 1-0 defeat with Deshan Rosa-Martin scoring the winner with only a couple of minutes remaining. The side were without co-captains Lucas and Pollard due to First Grade commitments and they battled hard even after Johnny Vicoroski picked up his second booking after an incident which saw Prospect goalkeeper Aiden Mantouroglou also sent from the pitch. The result leaves Flame five points off fifth-placed Minotaurs after they went down 1-0 to Nepean. The side will look to bounce back against Central Coast next weekend who are only above the Minotaurs on goal difference.

The under 18s were also down on numbers and that led to the side suffering a 5-1 defeat. Flame were locked at 1-1 at the break but the home side scored four goals in the second half - including a Joshua Ackroyd-Mosbey hat-trick to round out the win. The defeat is a serious blow to Flame’s finals hopes with the top five now 10 points away. The side will look to bounce back with a positive result against top of the table Central Coast United next weekend.

 

Sunday 15 July @ William Lawson Park

 

Prospect United - 1 (NISKI 39’)

 

South Coast Flame FC - 2 (GRACE 2’, STERJOVSKI 84’)

 

South Coast Flame FC lineup - Matt WHITE, Cameron HANSON, Daniel LUCAS, Jarrod POLLARD, Martin THOMSON, Andrew BOVA, Wade WILTON, Caleb GRACE, Dion STERJOVSKI, Julio MUSHABA, Louis CONNELL

 

Subs - Brandon GROOM, Andrew CHRISTIE, Jayden NIKOLOVSKI, AOTO SAITO, Ben LUCAS

 

Coach - Paul ROBAARD

 

Report and photo by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela