1997/1998 Season Round 08 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (23/11/1997) Perth Oval Referee : P McCaffrey, Crowd : 17030
Perth Glory Tom Maras, Gavin Wilkinson, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Paul Strudwick, Slobodan Despotovski (Scott Halpin 62), Samson Siasia, Danny Hay (Peter Vukmirovic 58), Anthony Carbone, Peter Anoskie (Paul McVittie 83) Goals : Anosike 63, G Naven 73	2	-	2	Adelaide Sharks Frank Mikuletic, Alex Castro, Frank Tibaldi (Jamie Perin 87), Alex Kuzmanovic, Branko Milosevic, Corey Artone (Adrian Iandorio 83), Nathan Day, Pablo Cardozo, Reginaldo Bigu Da Silva, Jim Tsekinis, Pedro Oliveira Goals : Cardozo 66, Artone 74
The crowd got their money's worth when new signing Anosike scissor kicked the home side into the lead. I mean a proper scissor kick and not the overhead bicycle version which people mistake it for. Hoever that just sparked a flurry of scores and the end of which no-one was any closer to winning. Pablo Cardozo scored from a free kick to level the scores once and then after Naven had curled his shot into goal the Perth keeper obliged a well struck, but eminently saveable, shot from Corey Artone by letting it slp from his grasp and roll into goal.
Played (23/11/1997) Bob Jane Stadium Referee : J Blaney, Crowd : 4200
South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Fausto deAmicis, Nick Orlic (Steve Iosifidis 70), Con Blatsis, David Clarkson, Steve Panopoulos, Vaughan Coveny, Michael Curcija (Goran Lozanovski 66), Bill Damianos, Con Boutsianis (Tansel Baser 80), John Anastasiadis Goal : Coveny 43	1	-	1	Canberra Cosmos Tony Giannasca, Paul Dee, Andrew Roberts, Ivan Zelic, Gordon Hunter, Norman Kelly, Harry James (Damien Brown 55), Michael Musitano (Iljia Preznoski 75), Peter Buljan, Toplica Popovich, Tom Haythornthwaite (Lindsay Wilson 46) Goal : James 44
Coveny briefly headed South Melbourne into the lead but Canberra struck back when a speculative long ball into the Souths penalty box was allowed to bounce and Harry James sneaked his head to the ball before the keeper, standing with his arms open, was able to receive the ball he was so desperately waiting to catch. Hmm, that sentence was meant to be amusing but now it just looks like it runs on and stupid. Ho hum, it does reflect the match rather well.
Played (22/11/1997) Brandon Park Referee : C Diomis, Crowd : 4148
Wollongong City Brett Hughes, Alvin Ceccoli, Jason Connolly, Matthew Horsley, Sonny Sevin (Michael Reda 23), Anthony Surjan, Scott Chipperfield, George Souris, Noel Spencer, Tony Perinich (Esala Masi 68), Neil Harlock (David Huxley 53) Goals : Surjan 75pk, Chipperfield 76	2	-	0	Gippsland Falcons Jim Kourtis, Manny Gotis, Tony Sekulic (Billy Mitroulas 68), Doug Marcina, Mark Foy, Willie Hastie, Levent Osman, Zlatko Mihajlovic, Nick Tsaltas (Hugo Giminez 80), Brian MacNicol, Joe Tricarico (Archie Thompson 15)
Gippsland did well but sadly for them not for the whole 90 minutes. Infact had they managed to take one or two of their chances the outcome may have been different. However Wollongong managed to win the game and deservedly so. Alvin Ceccoli was fouled by Levent Osman for the penalty which put Wollongong in front and with Gippsland still reeling Esala Masi's good run allowed Chipperfield a shot at goal which he placed into the corner of the net.
Played (23/11/1997) Parramatta Stadium Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 6363
Sydney United Andrew Crews, Peter Bennett, Velimir Kupresak, Richard Plesa, Joe Vrkic, Stuart Munro, Jacob Burns (Azur Mujanovic 84), Paul Bilokapic, Jason Culina (Marjan Galic 15), David Mitchell (Nick Bosevski 84), Abbas Saad Goal : Bilokapic 10	1	-	1	Marconi-Fairfield Ante Covic, Mark Babic, Mario Ansaldi, Luke Casserly, Christian Care, Darren McDonald (Mauro van Cuylenberg 73), Brad Maloney, Zeljko Babic, Francis Awaritefe (Manis Lamond 70), Brendan Renaud, Vlado Zoric Goal : Zoric 65
The Sydney derby is usually played within 200 metres of the opponents home ground but not these days. Paul Bilokapic's free kick rendered the efforts of the keeper and the wall largely useless and Sydney United went ahead and held the lead for the remainder of the half, despite having the ball put into their net. Offside? Well the Marconi players begged to differ. The other end proved more fruitful and Francis Awaritefe centered the ball after some good buildup found him near the 6yard box. The ball rolled to the fet of Zoric who almost nonchalantly poked the ball in for the equaliser.
Match report by Riccardo Fabio Biondini
Played (22/11/1997) Suncorp Stadium Referee : M Breeze, Crowd : 4008
Brisbane Strikers Graham Ross, Glenn Gwynne, Matthew Bell, Stephen Laybutt, Troy Cranney, Jeromy Harris (Mark Battistin 82), Sean Cranney, Frank Farina, Andrew Harper, Wayne Knipe (Rod Brown 75), Andrew Packer (Gary Blackford 68) Goal : Laybutt 12	1	-	2	Melbourne Knights Joe Didulica, Ante Kovacevic, Ivan Jolic, Ransford Banini, Zoran Markovski, Andrew Marth, Tom Pondeljak, Alan Davidson, Damian Vojtek, Ivan Kelic, Mijo Trupkovic (John Didulica 71 (sent off 79)) Goals : Jolic 56, Pondeljak 90
Stephen Laybutt was being irritated by a defender on his way forward and without provocation took out all the anger on the ball which didn't stop until it hit the net of the Knights goal. Of course Brisbane haven't won at home all season and that sort of record is worth mantaining so the Strikers found a way to first let the Knights get the equaliser when Jolic slotted home and despite having John Didulica sent off for a scuffle in the Brisbane penalty area Melbourne found a winner from an individual effort by Tom Pondeljak.
Played (22/11/1997) Optus Oval Referee : E Brazzale, Crowd : 3105
Carlton Dean Anastasiadis, Robert Trajkovski, Marcus Stergiopoulos (Simon Colosimo 59), Alan Hunter, Sean Douglas, Kresimir Marusic, Andrew Vlahos, Vincent Grella, John Markovski, David Cervinski (Daniel Allsopp 75), Mark Atkinson	0	-	1	UTS Olympic Bob Catlin, Paul Carter, Ante Juric, Norman Tome, Peter Tsekenis, Brett Emerton, Jean-Paul deMarigny, Walter Ardone, Hussein Jomaa, Huseyin Bayhan (Nick Carle 76), Steve Eagleton Goal : Tome 51
Carlton suffered their first defeat of the season against an unlikely opponent. The only goal of the game came when an overlapping run by Emerton was delivered inside to Tome who lunged forward to push the ball into the roof of the net. Emerton thought he'd scored from a deflected shot but the ball had swung out of play from a prior corner...that's as close as a second goal came.
Played (07/01/1998) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : G Connolly, Crowd : 3497
Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Mark Yates, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo, Damian Mori, Bradley Hassell (Mark Brazzale 88), Dino Mennillo (Nick Sabljak 77), John Gibson, Kris Trajanovski, Michael Brooks (Travis Dodd 69), Scott Thomas Goals : Mori 28, 73, 84, Brooks 37	4	-	0	Newcastle Breakers Liam Baker, Matthew Austin, Shane Pryce (Glen Sprod 77), Robert Ironside, Peter Ritchie (Ben Lane 75), Mark Wilson (Jason Bennett 69), Clayton Zane, Liam McGuire, Shaun Edwards, Matthew Lowe, Todd McManus
This match was postponed due to National Team World Cup committments.
Match report by Chris Dunkerley