1996/1997 Season Round 14 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (10/1/1997) Breakers Stadium Referee : D Crawford, Crowd : 5834
Newcastle Breakers Liam Baker, Shane Pryce, Peter Ritchie, Robert Ironside, Scott Thomas, Troy Halpin, Todd McManus, Andy Roberts, Jason Bennett (Harry James 76), Matt Austin, Liam McGuire Goal : Pryce 50pk	1	-	1	Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Mark Yates, Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo, Dino Mennillo, John Gibson, Michael Musitano (Travis Dodd 76), Michael Brooks, Mark Brazzale Goal : Gibson 23
John Gibson followed up on a shot which was at first blocked by the Newcastle keeper and the ball fell to him again and the second time it was in the net. The Breakers put on more pressure on the solid Adelaide defence but Adelaide held the lead to halftime, at one stage the post between Mennillo and a second goal. A mix up between Petkovic and Ivanovic saw McGuire slide in and bring the ball loose. In trying to recover and put the ball into the net McGuire was held back by the prone Petkovic and a penalty resulted. Another draw for the Breakers. (Mention must be made of the curtainraiser between the rowdies and the media. The rowdies won 1-0. Goal to Steve Bradbury followed by Ravanelli-esque celebrations)
Match report by Chris Dunkerley
Played (12/1/1997) Perth Oval Referee : E Brazzale, Crowd : 17582
Perth Glory Vincent Matassa, Craig Naven, Gavin Wilkinson, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Paul McVittie, Paul Strudwick, Slobodan Despotovski, Vasili Kalogeracos, Dale Wingell (Doug Ithier 71) Goal : Strudwick 59	1	-	1	Marconi-Fairfield Leslie Pogliacomi, Robert Stanton, Mattew Bingley, Luke Casserly, Andrew Harper, Craig Foster, Bradley Maloney (Andrew Ravanello 71), Dominic Longo, Mark Robertson, Sean Babic, Francis Awaritefe (Eric Hristodoulou 78) Goal : Harper 75
Marconi said they came to defend and in the first half this is what happened in the first half. The second half was more open and the record crowd was only allowed a brief taste of the lead when an Andrew Harper header restored parity. The usual late winner was this time denied the Glory although they did strike the post/crossbar twice in rapid sucession late on.
Played (11/1/1997) Bruce Stadium Referee : G Connolly, Crowd : 3127
Canberra Cosmos Barney Smith, Paul Dee, Norman Kelly, Lachlan Armstrong, Marko Perinovic, Vincent Grella, John Koch, Peter Mazis, George Sorras (David Milin 79), Ante Juric, Rodrigo Moreno (Peter Buljan 46) Goals : Sorras 22, Kelly 67pk	2	-	4	Melbourne Knights Joe Didulica, David Cervinski, Andrew Marth, Joe Simunic, Lubomir Lapsansky, Ice Kutlesovski, Tom Pondeljak, Ante Kovacevic, Ivan Duzel (Ante Deak 74), Ransford Banini, Adrian Cervinski Goals : Kutlesovski 4, 53, A Cervinski 61, 76
Canberra had yet another keeper in goal and Barney Smith was beaten early by Kutlesovski when an attempted shot became a pass, oddly enough Sorras got an equaliser from another Knights mistake when Simunic failed to make contact with a backpass. Smith made some brilliant saves but was beaten by Kutlesovski again, this time from a deflection. Adrian Cervinski put the ball over the keepers head on purpose and despite a penalty for a foul on Peter Buljan the Knights ran out winners with a break from a midfield turnover and a neat finish from Cervinski. Also there was a female streaker at this game. She raced onto the field in the 15th minute of the game, gave George Sorras a good hug and then was escorted off the field.
Played (11/1/1997) Falcons Park Referee : C Diomis, Crowd : 2754
Gippsland Falcons Jim Kourtis, Doug Marcina, Marcus Stergiopoulos (sent off 55), Steve Mangos, Nick Palamaras (Hugo Giminez 67), Mark Foy (Clayton Bell 67), Alex Duric, Tony Sekulic, Manny Gotis, William Hastie (Billy Wright 67), Joe Tricarico Goal : Sekulic 89	1	-	3	Wollongong City Adam Brodbeck, Alvin Ceccoli, Gary van Egmond (Michael Kariamis 10 (sent off 66)), Matthew Horsley, Sonny Sevin (Martin Bourke 78), Sasho Dimoski, Michael Reda (Scott Chipperfield 68), Neil Harlock, Nick Joseski, Richard Lloyd, Anthony Surjan Goals : Dimoski 50, Surjan 65, Chipperfield 84
Dimoski rounded two defenders after a Harlock cutback from the byline and shot home to give the Wolves the lead and a one-two saw Surjan double the lead after a Falcons reduction in playing numbers thanks to a rough tackle. Wollongong's Kariamis followed him soon after for a pair of very rough tackles. Despite this young Chipperfield exploited some woeful defence before Sekulic shot home from outside the penalty area after a corner was headed out for the Gippsland consolation.
Played (12/1/1997) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : W Dade, Crowd : 4592
West Adelaide Michael Harkness, Hamilton Thorp (Alex Cardozo 70), Robert Slager, Robert Hooker, Alex Castro, Ross Aloisi, Con Kokkinoplitis, Nathan Day, Frank Tibaldi, Jim Tsekinis, Corey Artone (Paul Pezos 81) Goals : Thorp 31, Tsekinis 44	2	-	1	UTS Olympic Tony Franken, David Barrett, Adam Ciantar, Scott Baillie, Peter Tsekenis (Ralph Bove 82), Norman Tome (Elias Augerinos 82), Alistair Edwards, Kris Trajanovski, Nick Meredith, Milan Blagojevic, Derek Poimer (Abbas Saad 60) Goal : Tome 52
13 yellow cards in this game, two of them to Alex Castro (again for kicking the ball away in the second instance) is some reflection on the importance this match held for both sides. A run down the right wing by Jim Tsekinis was followed by a cross to Nathan Day whose shot was parried by the Olympic keeper but left Thorp with an open goal to head into. Despite Olympics apparent edge in the game they went 2 behind with a messy goal in which the UTS players claim a hand was used. A Trajanovski cross to a largely unmarked Tome, who headed in, gave UTS some hope but despite the UTS pressure the score remained unchanged for the remaining minutes.
Played (12/1/1997) Victoria Park Referee : E Lennie, Crowd : 6000
Collingwood Warriors Frank Juric, Carlo Talladira, Dean Fak, Joe Vrkic, Enrico Cerrachio, Alan Scott, Con Boutsianis (Brian MacNicol 80), Ernie Tapai, Goran Lozanovski, Kimon Taliadoros, Andrew Vlahos	0	-	0	South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Nick Orlic, Alex Kuzmanovic, Jason Polak, Steve Panopoulos, Paul Trimboli (Mickey Petersen 84), Warren Spink (Vaughan Coveny 74), Steve Iosifidis, David Clarkson, Ivan Kelic, Fausto DeAmicis
Despite the scoreless draw there was plenty of action at either end. The Warriors perhaps more glad of the point after the 4-0 loss to South Melbourne in the previous round.
Played (12/1/1997) Parramatta Stadium Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 10560
Sydney United Zeljko Kalac, Robert Trajkovski, Velimir Kupresak, Robert Enes, Mark Rudan, Jason Culina (Damir Cvetko 71), Paul Bilokapic (Robert Markovac 78), Aytek Genc, Ante Milicic, Kresimir Marusic, David Zdrilic Goals : Milicic 13, 84, Genc 21, Zdrilic 88	4	-	0	Brisbane Strikers Graham Ross, Danny Wright, Glen Gwynne, Alan Hunter (Mark Battistin 13), Reece Tollenaere (Chris Slater 61), Jeromy Harris, Gary Phillips, Troy Cranney (Chay Hews 43), Andrew Brayshaw, Frank Farina (sent off 75), Rod Brown
Graham Ross was given a reward for his performance last round by facing Sydney United again. A large crowd (the game was moved to Paramatta Stadium for this anticipated outcome) saw Ante Milicic weave through several defenders and beat the rather hapless keeper for a taste of things to come. A shot from David Zdrilic became a tailor made cross across the back of the defence for Genc to tap in at the far post. A yellow card for a tackle from behind for Frank Farina became a red when he kicked the ball away after an offside call. In truth Farina was the subject of heavy attention and the frustration just got the better of him. Brisbane did have chances to score but Kalac showed some form this evening. Then Marusic's ball into the penalty area was rather fortuitously scrambled off the near post over the line by Milicic who slid in with a defender in tow. A very similar move was converted by Zdrilic after Milicic picked out the keeper with the initial shot.