1996/1997 Season Round 21 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (15/3/1997) Marconi Stadium Referee : M Shield, Crowd : 5012
Marconi-Fairfield Leslie Pogliacomi, Robert Stanton, Matthew Bingley, Luke Casserly, Andrew Harper, Craig Foster (Eric Hristodoulou 62), Bradley Maloney (Aaron Holst 89), Dominic Longo, Mark Robertson, Sean Babic (Francis Awaritefe 32), Vlado Zoric Goals : Zoric 69, Bingley 92	2	-	0	Wollongong City Brett Hughes, Alvin Ceccoli, Gary van Egmond, Martin Bourke (Jason Connolly 64), Matthew Horsley, Sonny Sevin, Sasho Dimoski, Nick Joseski (Neil Harlock 74), Richard Lloyd, Anthony Surjan (Michael Reda 72), Scott Chipperfield
Vlado Zoric scored when a corner was not properly cleared, his shot finding its mark through a crowd of players. The second goal came when Bingley intercepted a pass from a Wollongong attack late in the game and ran, along with Awaritefe, almost the length of the field to evade the two Wollongong defenders who weren't pressing for the equaliser and strike the ball inside the far post.
Played (15/3/1997) Belmore Oval Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 4624
UTS Olympic Anthony Franken, David Barrett, Adam Ciantar, Scott Baillie, Raphael Bove (Ivan Zelic 81), Elias Augerinos (Steve Refenes 45), Kris Trajanovski, Peter Tsekenis, Brett Emerton, Derek Poimer, Norman Tome (David Mitchell 73) Goals : Ciantar 24, Trajanovski 44, 45, Tome 59, Poimer 93	5	-	3	Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Rod Brown, Chay Hews (Jeremy Harris 73), Craig Williams, Chris Slater (Sean Cranney 45), Nick Meredith, Troy Cranney, Glen Gwynne, Matt Bell, Danny Wright (Frank Farina 53), Wayne Knipe Goals : Knipe 10, 88, Farina 63pk
This game was so full of action these few lines hardly do it justice. Wayne Knipe took full advantage of a header on from one of his team mates to run on and crisply strike home for the opening goal, his post goal celebrations taken are best described by spasmodic dance movements owing much to the punk culture. I liked it. Meredith, former UTS boy, then gifted his old club a corner when he had time enough to use a less desperate means of defence but failed to do so. The corner was taken twice before Bolton erred in coming for the cross, missing it completely, and Ciantar bobbled it into the net. A Barrett cross found Trajanovski able to tap in the ball past Bolton for a crucial goal just before halftime, a goal warmly appreciated by the crowd including one fat ballboy behind the Brisbane goal who seemed to give Knipe a run for his money. Traj then used his head to poke home a ball struck across the face of goal only seconds later and suddenly Brisbane were 2 down. Oh yeah and the fat kid reprised his performance. Poimer and Refenes combined for a cross to the utterly unmarked Tome who had no trouble heading in goal 4 for UTS, sadly the fat kid was now at the wrong end. Brisbane then came back with a foul on and a penalty by Farina (for some reason the last defender Ciantar only got a yellow) and a second for Knipe after he chested down a Cranney pass and turned and shot in one flowing movement. The fat kid just looked on. Then came the oddest sight of all. An indirect free kick was given to Brisbane inside the 6-yard-box and all 11 UTS players lined up on the goal line. Sadly for Brisbane they could not equalise with this chance and a last gasp goal at the other end made sure of the result. UTS had by far the better chances, and more of them and despite Bolton's occasional error he was the main reason the UTS goalcount didn't require 2 digits to describe it. Brisbane too could have score 2 or 3 more than they did but for luck.
Match report by David Borella
Played (15/3/1997) Perth Oval Referee : G Connolly, Crowd : 11644
Perth Glory Robert Zabica, Craig Naven, Gavin Wilkinson, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Paul McVittie, Vasili Kalogeracos (Alan MacKenzie 75), Slobodan Despotovski, Dale Wingell, Anthony Carbone Goals : Kalogeracos 30, 65, Wingell 24	3	-	1	Sydney United Zeljko Kalac, Robert Trajkovski, (Jason Culina 65), Velimir Kupresak, Mark Babic, Robert Enes, Ante Moric, Ante Milicic, Aytek Genc, David Zdrilic, Paul Bilokapic, Damir Cvetko (Robert Markovac 56) Goal : Enes 47
The table topping United were probably grateful that the folks from out west were having a bad trot. Of course the problem there is that it only takes one game to get out of such a trot. Perth opened the scoring with a run down the right by Gareth Naven and his purposeful cross found Wingell's head at the far end of the 6-yard-box, the latter in turn headed back across the goal mouth findig the side netting at the far post. The second goal was all Kalogeracos as he juggled for control of the ball just inside the penalty area, beat two defenders and shot for goal at the all but completely covered near post of Kalac. Sydney United managed to reply with a free kick awarded when Buljubasic stepped outside the laws of the game to stop a run by Genc. Enes took the kick and it bounced in that awkward spot just in front of the goalkeeper before it ended up in the net. Perth restored the 2 goal cushion when Naven this time pushed the ball into the path of Scott Miller. Miller, with a desperate lunge, only just managed to stop the ball going out for a goal kick and the looping cross evaded Kalac who was at the near post and found the head of Kalogeracos at the far one. Neat and simple, it could have been worse for Sydney if a handball had been called on Enes after Kalac had gone to the wrong end of the field, or indeed if the handball had not happened.
Played (15/3/1997) Bruce Stadium Referee : W Dade, Crowd : 1800
Canberra Cosmos Anthony Giannasca, Paul Dee, Paul Wade, Michael Garcia, Norman Kelly, Lachlan Armstrong, John Markovski, James Baxter (John Koch 80), Peter Mazis, Ante Juric (Vincent Grella 69), Rodrigo Moreno (Tony Lemezina 33) Goals : Kelly 46pk, Lemezina 89	2	-	4	Gippsland Falcons Jim Kourtis, Doug Marcina, Claudio Canosa, Marcus Stergiopoulos, Nick Palamaras, Mark Foy, Esala Masi (John Hutchinson 82), Will Hastie, Tony Sekulic, Joe Tricarico (Archie Thompson 57), Hugo Giminez (Levent Osman 83) Goals : Palamaras 25, Foy 52, Sekulic 71, Thompson 88
A diving Palamaras header from a Marcina cross was the only goal of the half. Canberra briefly regained parity before Canosa gave Foy another headed goal on a plate from a corner and the lead was increased with another header from a free kick. Canberra were embarrassed by a 4th goal from their opponents when the last man in the Cosmos defence passed the ball back before he realised he was the last man in the defence and hence had just placed the ball in some vacant space Thompson was happily running into. Thompson broke with tradition, scoring with his left foot after rounding the keeper, before Gippsland paid for the euphoria after the goal by not paying attention when the restart took place and Tony Lemezina capitalised on the quick thinking of his Canberra team mates. Funny stuff.
Played (16/3/1997) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : E Brazzale, Crowd : 10399
West Adelaide Michael Harkness, Robert Hooker, Richie Alagich, Ross Aloisi (Corey Artone 62), Pablo Cardozo, Branko Milosevic, Nathan Day (Alex Castro 64), Frank Tibaldi, Andrew Borghetto (Hamilton Thorp 60), Jim Tsekinis, Paul Pezos	0	-	2	Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Mark Yates, Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Bradley Hassell (Nick Sabljak 37), John Gibson, Michael Brooks (Travis Dodd 75), Mark Brazzale, Kosta Salapasidis, Sergei Vaskin (Joe Barbaro 85) Goals : Tobin 63pk, Gibson 90
Ah Derby Day! Adelaide hosted what is probably the most traditional derby and with so much at stake clear opportunities were hard to come by but Adelaide City managed the slightly better of what chances emerged. Finally a fortuitous bounce allowed Sabljak to run and his pass to thefront running Brooks would have given him a clear shot on goal had it not been for Hooker (I think) who clipped his heels in a desperate attempt to get the ball. Penalty. Tobin. Goal. The Sharks did well to press for the equaliser, having come close but unable to achieve the cigar, eventually John Gibson managed a shot from the edge of the area to make it 2-0, catching out West Adelaide who were busy working for a goal at the other end.
Played (16/3/1997) Victoria Park Referee : G Leverton, Crowd : 3311
Collingwood Warriors Frank Juric, Joe Vrkic, Paul Della Rocca, Alan Scott, Carlo Talladira (Frank Catalano 60), Andrew Vlahos, Con Boutsianis, Kimon Taliadoros, Ernie Tapai, Goran Lozanovski, Alan Davidson	0	-	0	Newcastle Breakers Liam Baker, Shane Pryce, Glen Sprod, Peter Ritchie, Robert Ironside, David Lowe, Troy Halpin, Todd McManus, Jason Bennett, Craig Sharpley, Matt Austin
Hmm, Newcastle did put the ball in the net but had the goal disallowed for offside and Collingwood had chances too. It was not your classic boring 0-0 draw but at the same time there wasn't all that much excitement to be had if you do not fervently support either of the teams.
Played (16/3/1997) Somers St Stadium Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 6808
Melbourne Knights Joe Didulica, Dragi Nastevski, Zoran Markovski, Andrew Marth, Marjan Tasevski, Lubomir Lapsansky, Ice Kutlesovski, Tom Pondeljak, Ante Kovacevic, Ransford Banini, Adrian Cervinski Goal : Cervinski	1	-	0	South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Nick Orlic, Con Blatsis, Jason Polak, Steve Panopoulos, Paul Trimboli, Bill Damianos (George Goutzioulis 69), David Clarkson, Warren Spink, Ivan Kelic (Michael Curcija 80), Fausto DeAmicis
A Ransford Banini cross was reached by Cervinski's head before Petkovic could catch the ball meaning instead of catching it and booting it back upfield Petkovic had to get it out of the net and boot the ball upfield. The Knights deserved the win given the balance of the match but I was rather hoping they'd lose all the same.