Set to the beat of the drum on the hill, South Coast United marched up the ladder after claiming three points against Port Kembla. Two first-half goals for Chris Smith sealed victory for the relegation battlers in a hard-fought contest against a Port side desperate to move into the top five.

Early on though it looked as though the South Coast United of old had returned when they conceded in 4 minutes. With time and space out on the right, Port Kembla's winger whipped in a near perfect ball for Kenta Hara to run onto and hit a side-footed volley past Jason Bleakley, who was left flat-footed between the sticks.

Port Kembla appeared to be the dominant force, not allowing United have any control over possession and came close to doubling their lead in the 15^th minute when a lobbed header from a corner fell on the top of the crossbar.

However, with Chris Smith in rare goal-scoring form, South Coast United would always be a threat in the front third. In their first meaningful attack of the game, Smith broke through the defence, and rounded Chris Fuentes in goals, to draw the scores level in the 16^th minute.

Port Kembla looked bewildered as South Coast broke through once again immediately after the restart. The attack amounted to nothing as Tomi Skara’s cross was dealt with safely by Fuentus, but it was evident that a sense of optimism was rising around Ian McLennan Park.

After the initial shock of conceding, Port Kembla refound their feet as Sandy Lowcock burst down the left wing in the 19^th minute. At the by-line, Lowcock cut the ball across the goal but failed to find a teammate to tap the ball into the back of the net.

In the 31^st minute though, it was Lowcock's marker, United's right-wing back Keiran Brodnik, who tore down the touchline to set up South Coast's second goal. Arriving at the edge of the 18-yard box, Brodnik whipped the ball across the box to Smith whose initial shot was saved by Fuentus. Luckily for Smith, Fuentus save rebounded straight into this path, which he calmly stroked into the back of the net.

Unlike the first goal, Port Kembla would not be rattled this time around, immediately going on the front foot as Hara forced Bleakley to pull off a magnificent save from close range in the 33^rd minute. Then in the 39^th minute, Daniel Djulcic's was inches away from scoring when his half volley cannoned into the outside of the near post.

South Coast though would go into the half with the lead – a lead they would defend at all costs in the second period.

In the 49^th minute, Jason Bleakley would add another save to his impressive highlight reel, when he dived at full stretch to deny Nathan Bolsito's shot from nestling in the top corner.

Two minutes later, Bolsito would be involved in the action again, this time in an altercation with Ricky Bertakis. He may have avoided punishment from the referee; however, he could not avoid the wrath of the South Coast faithful, who would plague him for the remainder of the evening.

The hustle and bustle between Bolsito and Bertakis was symptomatic of the rest of the match, with players from both sides fully committing themselves to every challenge with neither side being able to afford to concede another goal.

Steering the ship at the back for South Coast was captain-coach was Greg Valic, who was monumental in his side's victory. He won countless headers, distinguishing virtually every attack from Port Kembla as they began to chase the game.

Valic’s work ethic in defence was matched by Smith up front despite nursing arm injury for much of the second half. In the 71^st minute the ball looked destined to roll out for a goal-kick, but Smith refused to give up on the ball and was rewarded when he kept the ball in play with no one around him. Dribbling towards the keeper, Smith crossed the ball which Fuentus attempted to clear but only managed to smash the ball into the back of Bertakis. Fortunately for the Port Keeper, the ball rebounded away from the goal, keeping Port in the game.

In the 77^th minute, Port had another chance to equalise but like their earlier chances, it would elude them, when Aden Wade skied his half-volley from the edge of the box.

The last 13 minutes was all South Coast United. In the 85^th minute, Dion Sterjovksi raced down the left wing, cutting onto his right foot only to hit his shot over the bar. Two minutes later, Sterjovski was off again, this time his forcing Fuentus to pull off a stunning one-handed save after the wind took Sterjovski's shot behind the athletic keeper.

Kolin Hmda was literally millimetres away from putting the contest to bed in stoppage time when his shot rattled the corner of the post and the crossbar. A goal for Hmda would have been a just reward for his tireless performance in midfield. However, his missed opportunity wouldn’t make a difference as the referee blew the final whistle, confirming South Coast’s ascension out of the relegation zone following Fernhill’s lost to Cringila earlier in the day.

Following the game, Greg Valic had nothing but praise for his side but acknowledged the upcoming challenge to keep his side afloat.

“Yes, it was a lot of defending, yes it was difficult, yes it was ugly but its three points and that’s what we need right now.”

“The playing group has been fantastic in the past month, we’re starting to pick up results and we’re starting to build a little bit of resilience… as long as we keep performing and grinding out these results, then fingers crossed we can do enough.”

On their upcoming home game next week against Wollongong United, Valic praised his forthcoming opponent as a "dangerous outfit" with "a lot of good individual quality" but is optimistic his in-form team can pick up a result.

“I’ll start preparing for the game tomorrow and fingers-crossed we can pick up another result.”

Port Kembla, on the other hand, will be bitterly disappointed that they relinquished their early lead. They'll look to bounce back next week against Tarrawanna.

Full interview with Greg Valic below - http://bit.ly/2IW45Tw

29^th June 2019 @ Ian McLennan Park

South Coast United – 2 (Smith 16’,31’)

Port Kembla – 1 (Hara 4’)

South Coast United – Jason BLEAKLEY, Chris VALIC, Greg VALIC, Chris SMITH, Tomi SKARA, Rikcy BERTAKIS, Kolan HMDA, Kieran BRODNIK, Byungkuk CHO, Mark VIDAIC, Dion STERJOVSKI.

Substitutes – Dylan MENA, Callum RUSSELL, Josh HAWKER, Cameron HANSON, Mitchell BUSH

Port Kembla – Chris FUENTUS, William MUBBS, Nathan BOLSITO, Nobi MUCHKULCI, Luke BOERSMA, Chris GOMEL, Kenta HARA, Daniel DJULCIC, Sandy LOWCOCK, Fabian IACOVELLI.

Substitutes – Toni Musumeci, Aden Wade, Addison GILLESPIE, Brad ACCU, Cameron CAMILLERI

Report by Nic Wilson, @_nicwilson

Photo courtesy of JC Sports Photography