written by Thomas Esamie
Played (20/4/1997) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 8753 | ||||
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| Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo, Bradley Hassell, Dino Mennillo, Michael Brooks (Joe Barbaro 70), Mark Brazzale, Kosta Salapasidis (Michael Pirone 84), Nick Sabljak Goal : Brooks 23 |
1 | - | 1 | Sydney United Zeljko Kalac, Robert Trajkovski, Mark Babic, Ante Moric, Ante Milicic, Damir Cvetko, Aytek Genc, David Zdrilic, Richard Plesa (Jacob Burns 70), Dean Culina, John Didulica Goal : Genc 71 |
| In a high scoring round the season's highest scoring team played out the match with the least goals. Kalac actually saved a Tobin penalty, but the card Kalac got in conceding it means he will miss the next game. Brooks made up for Tobin's miss but Genc scored the equaliser after a Zdrilic shot was parried by Petkovic into the path of Genc. | ||||
Played (20/4/1997) Suncorp Stadium Referee : M Breeze, Crowd : 3509 | ||||
| Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Matt Bell, Alan Hunter, Gary Philips, Frank Farina (Jeremy Harris 55), Sean Cranney, Troy Cranney, Rod Brown (Andrew Brayshaw 60), Wayne Knipe, Chay Hews, Craig Williams Goals : Hunter 65pk, S Cranney 70 |
2 | - | 3 | Gippsland Falcons Jim Kourtis, Doug Marcina, Claudio Canosa, Marcus Stergiopoulos, Nick Palamaras, Mark Foy, Esala Masi (Levent Osman 77), Tony Sekulic, Manny Gotis, Willie Hastie, Manoa Masi Goals : Gotis 29, Hastie 56, Osman 84 |
| Brisbane were going to finish second on the ladder no matter the result, so a few players were rested and no-one was overly interested in the game. Gotis exploited the lack of motivation with a header from a free kick taken near the corner flag and Willie Hastie ran onto a layoff to put the ball inside the far post for a 2-0 lead. The lively Wayne Knipe was fouled as he tried to turn in the area and offered a way back to Hunter and Sean Cranney saw to it that parity was restored with a shot from the corner of the 6yard box. Osman wasn't having this and when Williams failed to connect with a defensive header Osman ran through and scored easily to give the Falcons a win. | ||||
Played (20/4/1997) Brandon Park Referee : G Leverton, Crowd : 4396 | ||||
| Wollongong City Adam Brodbeck, Sebastian Sinozic, Alvin Ceccoli, Gary van Egmond, Matthew Horsley, Sonny Sevin, Stephen Laybutt (Neil Harlock 74), Sasho Dimoski (Colin Luff 68), Martin Bourke, Scott Chipperfield, Noel Spencer (Anthony Surjan 62) Goals : Chipperfield 22, Spencer 43, Horsley 57, Sevin 76 |
4 | - | 4 | Collingwood Warriors Frank Juric (Dean Anastasiadis 46), Joe Vrkic (sent off 76), Paul Della Rocca, Alan Davidson, Enrico Cerracchio (Frank Catalano 62), Carlo Talladira, Andrew Vlahos, Con Boutsianis (Peter Di Iorio 40), Kimon Taliadoros, Ernie Tapai, Goran Lozanovski Goals : Vlahos 14, Boutsianis 34, Della Rocca 45, Di Iorio 58 |
| It was a goalfest to mark the demise of Collingwood (alias Heidelberg). Vlahos scored with a massive deflection, Chipperfield replied, also helped by a rather more subtle deflection. So the score continued to see-saw. Boutsianis direct from a free kick at the edge of the area, Spencer benefiting from some passes to open a space in front of goal, Della Rocca the least confused when a corner resulted in a bouncing ball in front of goal and that was all in the first half. Horsley's shot was mishandled by the keeper and deflected into the net for the 3rd equalising goal of the game and Peter DiIorio and Sonny Sevin exchanged a further set of goals to end up one goal each short of the 5-5 record set last season. | ||||
Played (20/4/1997) Lakeside Stadium Referee : M Shield, Crowd : 7896 | ||||
| South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Nick Orlic, Con Blatsis, Jason Polak, Steve Panopoulos, Paul Trimboli (Daniel Allsopp 77), Bill Damianos, David Clarkson (Tansel Baser 77), Michael Curcija, Ivan Kelic (Mike Petersen 77), Fausto De Amicis Goals : Curcija 55, Trimboli 74, 76 |
3 | - | 1 | Canberra Cosmos Barney Smith, Paul Dee, Paul Wade (George Sorras 90), Norman Kelly, Lachlan Armstrong, John Markovski (Joe Campagna 80), Lindsay Wilson, Peter Buljan, Vincent Grella, John Koch, James Baxter Goal : Buljan 90 |
| Goodbye Paul Wade. Sadly Souths spoilt the party with another Paul starring in the match by first setting up Curcija for the opener and scoring the next 2 himself. The first of Trimboli's goals being laid on by Curcija for a shot on an empty net and the second being very reminiscent of the first. Canberra's keeper really could have asked for a better debut, but he is to blame as much as anyone for the lapses. Paul Wade did manage to lay the ball across the face of goal for Peter Buljan to score the consolation at the far post. | ||||
| Match report by Alan Clark | ||||
Played (20/4/1997) Somers St Stadium Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 10000 | ||||
| Melbourne Knights Joe Didulica, Dragi Nastevski, Zoran Markovski, Andrew Marth, Marjan Tasevski, Lubomir Lapsansky, Ice Kutlesovski, Tom Pondeljak, Ante Kovacevic, Ransford Banini (Ivan Duzel 66), Adrian Cervinski Goals : Pondeljak 44, 59, Cervinski 88pk |
3 | - | 1 | Perth Glory Robert Zabica, Craig Naven, Gavin Wilkinson, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven (Peter Vukmirovic 87), Scott Miller, Paul McVittie (Dale Wingell 83), Paul Strudwick (sent off 53), Anthony Carbone, Slobodan Despotovski, Vasili Kalogeracos Goal : Carbone 10 |
| With such a big Match report on offer here I really need not give too much detail. Gary Marocchi and his charges were looking to get into the finals in their debut season and needed anything but a loss to do this. Carbone's opening goal came from a deep run by Strudwick and a pass up the line, with a neat and slightly lucky finish, this was precisely what Perth wanted. What was less than desirable were Strudwicks two yellow cards. His first for a rugged but seemingly unintentional foul on Lapsansky and the second for an elbow to Marth when contesting a goalkick in midfield. It was all a bit harsh and probably proved the difference. Between the cards Melbourne equalised thanks to Marth, Cervinski, Lapsansky and finally the finish from Pondeljak. Pondeljak scored again after an attempted clearance bounced back off Lapsansky and into Pondeljaks path and the final nail came when Kutlesovski was caught from behind by Dale Wingell inside the box for a penalty. | ||||
| Match report by David Borella | ||||
Played (20/4/1997) Marconi Stadium Referee : G Connolly, Crowd : 6052 | ||||
| Marconi-Fairfield Bob Catlin, Paul Souris, Robert Stanton, Aaron Holst, Andrew Harper (Darren McDonald 85), Brad Maloney (Eric Hristodoulou 85), Craig Foster, Vlado Zoric (Luke Casserly 46), Mark Robertson, Sean Babic, Francis Awaritefe Goals : Awaritefe 10, Babic 56 |
2 | - | 2 | West Adelaide Michael Harkness, Con Kokkinoplitis, Robert Hooker, Paul Pezos, Jim Tsekinis, Ross Aloisi, Branko Milosevic, Pablo Cardozo, Frank Tibaldi, Andrew Borghetto (Alex Castro 46), Hamilton Thorp Goals : Thorp 24, 41 |
| Awaritefe was pressing the Marconi case early and after a surge forward brought a corner from his good efforts he followed it up by heading that corner into goal. West Adelaide, only pride to play for, played themselves into the lead with a Thorp header from a free kick followed by a strike from 18yards out with halftime in sight. Marconi had missed some good scoring chances and managed only to score from one of them thanks to a giant, and quick, clearance from Catlin which found Babic rather than the 2 West Adelaide defenders who were there to ensure this sort of thing didn't happen. Babic ran the last quarter of the field and scored, he had to, there were 4 players in the half and 3 of them were not his team mates. West Adelaide probably deserved this one, but it was a close game. | ||||
Played (20/4/1997) Breakers Stadium Referee : C Diomis, Crowd : 4022 | ||||
| Newcastle Breakers Liam Baker, Shane Pryce, Glen Sprod (Mark Wilson 79), Peter Ritchie, Robert Ironside, David Lowe (Liam McGuire 86), Clayton Zane, Troy Halpin (Scott Thomas 68), Todd McManus, Craig Sharpley, Matt Austin Goals : Lowe 9, Ironside 35, 85, Sharpley 58 |
4 | - | 3 | UTS Olympic George Bouhoutsos, David Barrett (Adam Ciantar 78), Scott Baillie, Ivan Zelic, Walter Ardone, Brett Emerton, Kris Trajanovski, Raphael Bove, Elias Augerinos (Steve Refenes 46), Derek Poimer (Norman Tome 73), David Mitchell Goals : Mitchell 48, Trajanovski 53, Ardone 76 |
| Neither team had anything to play for and it seems the goalies took an early break. Lowe slipped the ball under Bouhoutsos and Ironside was more brutal in thundering the ball into the net from a corner. Mitchell finished off at the far post after some sustained pressure had two Newcastle defenders lying in the goal before they were joined by the ball and Trajanovski had enough room to score with a beachball at the near post. Some nice back-to-goal work allowed Sharpley to retake the lead for Newcastle and while Ardone made it 3-3 when he was left unmarked in front of goal there was time enough for the winning goal to be received by the home crowd thanks to Bouhoutsos failing to hold a cross and Ironside stroked the ball into the net. | ||||
| Match report by Chris Dunkerley | ||||