1997/1998 Season Round 04 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (24/10/1997) Parramatta Stadium Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 4623
Sydney United Zeljko Kalac, Peter Bennett, Velimir Kupresak, Joe Vrkic, Richard Plesa, Stuart Munro, Jacob Burns (Jason Culina 82), Paul Bilokapic, Robert Hooker, Abbas Saad (Nick Bosevski 72), David Mitchell Goals : Plesa 42, Mitchell 56	2	-	1	Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Sean Cranney (Andrew Brayshaw 68), Mark Battistin (Brad Ditton 72), Craig Williams, Stephen Laybutt, Matthew Bell, Chay Hews, Frank Farina, Troy Cranney, Andrew Harper, Rod Brown (Wayne Knipe 80) Goal : S Cranney 17
The Strikers got the lead against the general run of play when Cranney was released on a run towards goal and Kalac was helpless to stop the shot. Brisbane then threw the game away, first a speculative shot from way out by Plesa was a bit too high for Bolton to catch and though he got his fingertips to the ball the ball just bobbled up, over his head and into goal. Then after halftime a corner was scrambled over the line by player/coach Mitchell after several failed attempts to clear the ball by Brisbane. Both sides had chances to score but neither managed it and Sydney were deserving winners.
Match report by David Marshall
Match report by David Borella
Played (25/10/1997) Optus Oval Referee : G Connolly, Crowd : 5137
Carlton Dean Anastasiadis, Robert Trajkovski, Marcus Stergiopoulos, Sean Douglas, Con Anthopoulos, Kresimir Marusic (Simon Colosimo 89), Daniel Allsopp (Andrew Vlahos 58), Lubomir Lapsansky, John Markovski (Branko Bacak 86), David Cervinski, Mark Atkinson Goals : Markovski 25, 65, Vlahos 84	3	-	1	Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Mark Yates, Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo, Damian Mori, Dino Mennillo (Michael Brooks 74), John Gibson, Kris Trajanovski (Kosta Salapasidis 80), Scott Thomas Goal : Mori 35
Carlton continue to impress in their maiden season opening the scoring through a left foot thunderbolt from Jonesy on a freekick from just outside the area. A flowing reply involving Ivanovic, Mennillo, Trajanovski and the goalscorer Mori saw Adelaide hold their own in the first half. After that Carlton looked more, shall we say, professional eventhough the 2-1 goal was down to a goalkeeping error on a shot from on the endline. The goalkeeper was not to blame for failing to stop a header from Vlahos who threw himself headlong at the ball from the Stergiopoulos cross.
Match report by David Arnold
Played (26/10/1997) Falcons Stadium Referee : ??, Crowd : 3933
Gippsland Falcons Jim Kourtis, Clayton Bell (Levent Osman 56), Claudio Canosa, Tony Sekulic, Nick Palamaras, Doug Marcina, Nick Tsaltas, Mark Foy, Archie Thompson, Brian MacNicol, Willie Hastie (Joe Tricarico 68)	0	-	1	Marconi-Fairfield Michael Gibson, Luke Casserly (Mark Babic 80), Christian Care, Darren McDonald, Brad Maloney, Giuseppe Marino, Zeljko Babic, Francis Awaritefe (Mauro van Cuylenberg ??), Brendan Renaud, Paul Souris, Vlado Zoric (Manis Lamond 90) Goal : Maloney 37
A lot of Marconi attacking but only one goal to show for it as the heads of Awaritefe and Chris Care led the ball to come to Maloney who stuck out his foot and put the ball into the net for a somewhat inelegant (but they all count the same) goal.
Played (26/10/1997) Perth Oval Referee : W Dade, Crowd : 14384
Perth Glory Tom Maras, Craig Naven (Scott Halpin 46), Peter Vukmirovic (Doug Ithier 85), Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Paul Strudwick, Slobodan Despotovski, Ernie Tapai, Samson Siasia, Danny Hay Goals : Halpin 47, Despotovski 57, Siasia 81	3	-	2	Melbourne Knights Joe Didulica, Ante Kovacevic, Ivan Jolic, Andrew Marth, Zoran Markovski, Ice Kutlesovski, John Didulica, Tom Pondeljak, Alan Davidson, Ivan Kelic, Ante Deak Goals : Markovski 15, J Didulica 42
Ah Revenge! It was the Knights who ended Perth's hopes of a finals appearance in their maiden season and they came to Perth soon finding themselves a goal to the good after a Maras mistake allowed a postrate Zoran Markovski to swing his leg and put the ball into the net. John Didulica was on hand to put the weak Maras punch out from a corner straight back past him for a 2-0 lead. Perth then dominate the 2nd half, first coming back through Halpin who headed back across the goalkeeper from a Despotovski cross. The latter then scored himself, more by accident as he almost got in Siasia's way to level the scores. Siasia then took the glory for himself when he struck a shot from the edge of the area and on the turn to elude the despairing dive of Joe Didulica in goal.
Match report by Searlais Mullen
Played (26/10/1997) Bob Jane Stadium Referee : E Lennie, Crowd : 6826
South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Fausto de Amicis, Nick Orlic, Con Blatsis, David Clarkson, Steve Panopoulos (Vaughan Coveny 63), Paul Trimboli, Michael Curcija, Bill Damianos, Con Boutsianis (Tansel Baser 63), Johan Anastasiadis (Robert Liparoti 87) Goals : Trimboli 10, 90+	2	-	2	UTS Olympic Bob Catlin, Adam Ciantar, Ante Juric, Norman Tome, Peter Tsekenis, Derek Poimer (Steve Eagleton 67), Brett Emerton, Kimon Taliadoros (Walter Ardone 80), Jean Paul de Marigny, Danny Barbalace (Scott Baillie 69), Hussein Jomaa Goals : Tome 40, 83
Damianos, Curcija and Trimboli more or less dismantled the entire UTS defence and went 3/4 of the length of the pitch to score after UTS lost possession. It looked like a taste of things to come but UTS, though shaky, held on. Tome's glancing header from an excellent Emerton cross late in the first half was against the run of play and made it a tough second half for both sides. Tome looked like he might have won it with a far post volley, again against the run of play, from another Emerton cross. Captain Trimboli came to the home sides rescue after a Souths movement involving at least 6 players (including the goalkeeper) eventhough he appeared to handle the ball from an attempted defensive clearance before finding himself with the keeper to beat, which is what he duly did.
Match report by David Arnold
Played (26/10/1997) Thebarton Oval Referee : P McCaffrey, Crowd : 3655
Adelaide Sharks Frank Mikuletic, Alex Castro, Frank Tibaldi, Alex Kuzmanovic, Branko Milosevic, Corey Artone, Nathan Day (Andrew Borghetto 71), Reginaldo Bigu da Silva, John Cutillo (Adrian Iandorio 59), Pablo Cardozo, Paul Pezos Goals : Day 30, Cardozo 53, 62	3	-	0	Canberra Cosmos Anthony Giannasca, Paul Dee (Damien Brown 67), Andrew Roberts, Ivan Zelic, Andrew Ravanello, Ante Moric, Michael Musitano, Dale Wingell, Marko Perinovic (Harry James 67), Toplica Popovich, Tom Haythornthwaite
The Sharks were hungry tonight. Day opened with a jink past a defender and a drive past the keeper and it looked oh so easy. My favourite Elvis impersonator then chipped in with 2 goals, the first was anything but chipped, infact a vicious drive which went in off the inside of the far post and then a scrambled effort which was very ugly. A bit like the king in a white sequin jumpsuit.
Played (26/10/1997) WIN Stadium Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 4116
Wollongong City Brett Hughes, Alvin Ceccoli, Robert Stanton, Jason Connolly, Matthew Horsley, Sonny Sevin, Anthony Surjan (George Souris 84), Scott Chipperfield, Noel Spencer (Raymond Younis 57), Tony Perinich (Michael Reda 75), Neil Harlock Goal : Chipperfield 20	1	-	1	Newcastle Breakers Liam Baker, Glen Sprod, Matthew Austin, Shane Pryce, Todd McManus, Robert Ironside, Mark Wilson, Clayton Zane, Troy Halpin, Jason Bennett, Doug West (Michael Williams 72) Goal : McManus 70
The 'gong held sway in the first half and scored from an opportunist strike but failed to press home the advantage and paid dearly for it. Newcastle owned the second half and equalised when Brett Hughes made himself look like a bit of a pancake when he failed to secure the ball in a jumping contest with some other players. A contest which McManus can claim to have won. However ol' Brett managed to make up for the indisgression by denying Clayton Zane a winner when the latter really had very little option but to score.
Match report by Michael Melo