FRASER Park came out deserving 2-nil winners against South Coast Flame on Saturday at Fraser Park after an impressive second half display.
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Although it took them a while to break the deadlock, the hosts dominated the majority of the game.
The opener came in the 61st minute when Dominic Siu buried his shot into the top corner giving the hosts a deserved lead and they doubled the advantage in the 73rd minute when Cam Philpot was gifted a golden ball from Shu Torihara, after a magnificent solo run.
The game started off at a rapid pace with both sides trying to get an early goal and capitalise on the momentum.
Within five minutes, Fraser Park had a penalty appeal denied but got given a free-kick inches from the box but ultimately lead to nothing.
South Coast, headlined by Shoalhaven Heads' Matthew White and Culburra Kasey Kulcsar, was also denied a penalty in the 17th minute when Sandy Lowcock was taken out twice within a matter of seconds much to the displeasure of all his teammates and coaches.
Fraser Park came within inches of an opener in the 26th minute when Cam Philpot's shot from the edge of the box hit the inside of both posts before being cleared off the line by a nervy South Coast defence.
Philpot was determined to get his goal but was again denied by the sticks.
He again found space at the edge of the box in the 38th minute but this time his shot smacked against the crossbar and out of danger for the Flame's defence.
Philpot continued his mission to score and came agonisingly close in the 43rd minute when a corner found him unmarked in the box his header beat the keeper but beat the posts as well and sailed out for a goal kick.
This concluded the first half highlights.
Fraser Park continued their dominance in the second half and it was Philpot again who found himself with a great heading opportunity in the box - although this time he was forced to head it backwards and couldn't get enough power on it to trouble Matthew White.
Shu Torihara thought he had the opener for the hosts in the 57th minute with a brilliant header from close range but this goal was cancelled out by the linesman, who caught him offside.
Only a matter of minutes later, Fraser Park found their opener after Matteo Pandolfo's low driven cross found Dominic Siu at the edge of the box - he made no mistakes and effortlessly buried into the top left corner.
The hosts had their lead doubled in the 73rd minute after a phenomenal solo run from Shu Torihara.
He skimmed past the South Coast backline and found an oncoming Philpot at the back post and he finally got his goal after numerous close efforts.
Flame coach George Kulcsar was able to take out some positives whilst acknowledging the oppositions dominant performance.
"We are obviously disappointed with a loss but the desire and effort against the benchmark team of the competition was outstanding," the former Culburra Cougars mentor said.
"We lacked little football smarts in key areas at times which ultimately cost us any chance of victory."
The win puts Fraser Park on top of the table while Flame slip out of the top five and will need some big results over the next three weeks if they are to feature in the playoffs.
