1997/1998 Season Round 17 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (24/01/1998) Optus Oval Referee : J Blaney, Crowd : 2476
Carlton Dean Anastasiadis, Robert Trajkovski (David Della Rocca 78), Marcus Stergiopoulos, Sean Douglas, Con Anthopoulos, Andy Vlahos (Daniel Allsopp 62), Simon Colosimo, Vince Grella (Andy Vargas 71), John Markovski, Mark Atkinson, Marco Bresciano Goals : Markovski 34, Allsopp 68	2	-	0	Canberra Cosmos Anthony Giannasca, Andrew Dee, Ivan Zelic, Andrew Ravanello (Harry James 58), Ante Moric, Gordon Hunter, Norman Kelly, Michael Musitano (Tristrim Morgan 66), Peter Buljan, Toplica Popovich, Tom Haythornthwaite (Lindsay Wilson 38)
Canberra got an offside goal and generally threatened to spoil Carlton's day but it was John Markovski, celebrating a call up to the National side, who volleyed home a cross after a long ball found space out wide with Bresciano running onto it. Canberra continued to miss goalscoring oppotunities and it was left to Daniel Allsopp to slam home Carlton's second after a speculative Grella shot came off the joint of the bar and post and took everyone out of the picture.
Match report by David Arnold
Played (25/01/1998) Parramatta Stadium Referee : E Lennie, Crowd : 3355
Sydney United Zeljko Kalac, David Barrett, Velimir Kupresak, Joe Vrkic, Stuart Munro (Azur Mujanovic 72), Peter Bennett, Jacob Burns (Marcus Philips 61), Paul Bilokapic, Robert Hooker (Jason Culina 61), Abbas Saad, Nick Bosevski	0	-	1	Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Mark Yates (Mark Brazzale 85), Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo, Damian Mori, John Gibson, Kris Trajanovski (Dino Mennillo 75), Michael Brooks (Bradley Hassell 67), Scott Thomas Goal : Mori 44
With this game (and Souths win) Sydney slipped off the top of the table on goal difference and it was all thanks to Damian Mori who was fed a beautiful pass from Brooks to give him the advantage over 3 defenders and Mori put the ball past Kalac from in front.
Played (25/01/1998) Brandon Park Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 5195
Wollongong City Adam Brodbeck, Alvin Ceccoli (Raymond Younis 80), Robert Stanton, Jason Connolly, Matthew Horsley, Sonny Sevin (Sasho Dimoski 67), Anthony Surjan, Scott Chipperfield, George Souris, Tony Perinich (Noel Spencer 86), David Huxley Goals : Horsley 43, Surjan 90+	2	-	0	Melbourne Knights Vilson Knezevic, Ante Kovacevic, Ivan Jolic, Zoran Markovski (Ice Kutlesovski 71), Joey Rajher (Miho Trupkovic 55), Gus Cerro, Tom Pondeljak, Ivan Kelic, Dragi Nastevski, John Didulica, Ante Deak
The Wolves managed a good win against a more than useful side to give warning to other top 6 contenders that Wollongong intend to be there at the end of the season. There was some early pressure from the Knights mainly through Pondeljak, who seems to be their 'go-to-guy'. A free kick from a Zoran Markovski foul was initially dealt with by the wall but the followup effort thanks to a Sevin ball was put away in a crowded area by Horsley. Both Knezevic and Brodbeck did well to halt any further scoring but as the shadows across Brandon Park grew long Anthony Surjan walked through the Knights tiring defence and tucked a ball past the keeper and some defenders to just trickle over the line.
Played (25/01/1998) Perth Oval Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 13341
Perth Glory Tony Franken, Gavin Wilkinson, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Slobodan Despotovski, Michael Garcia (Anthony Carbone 67), Samson Siasia, Scott Halpin (Ernie Tapai 46), Danny Hay, Troy Halpin Goal : Tapai 73pk	1	-	3	Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Glenn Gwynne (sent off 65), Matthew Bell, Chris Zoricich, Nick Meredith, Frank Farina (Chay Hews 68), Kasey Wehrman, Troy Cranney, Stephen Laybutt, Andrew Harper (Wayne Knipe 76), Gary Blackford (Sean Cranney 82) Goals : Meredith 22, Laybutt 62, T Cranney 89
Nick Meredith scored early with the kind of looping volley from outside one corner of the penalty box that you tend to dream of when you win the World Cup in your mind. Laybutt doubled the lead when he blasted home from a spilled corner just before Brisbane suffered a setback in having Glenn Gwynne sent off. Then another setback as the Glory scored from a penalty. However the home support couldn't carry the team home and Troy Cranney walked the ball into the net late in the game to seal a much needed win for Brisbane.
Played (25/01/1998) Bob Jane Stadium Referee : D Dwight, Crowd : 3887
South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Steve Iosifidis, Fausto de Amicis, Con Blatsis, David Clarkson, Paul Trimboli, Michael Curcija (Vaughan Coveny 79), Bill Damianos (Steve Panopoulos 69), Goran Lozanovski, Tansel Baser, John Anastasiadis (Con Boutsianis 54) Goals : Curcija 70, Trimboli 90	2	-	1	Newcastle Breakers Brad Swancott, Matthew Austin, Shane Pryce, Todd McManus, Robert Ironside, Peter Ritchie, Mark Wilson (Ben Lane 71), Clayton Zane, Reece Tollenaere (Liam McGuire 79), Doug West (Glen Sprod 58), Shaun Edwards Goal : Zane 85
A Boutsianis cross was well placed enough for Curcija to be able to measure his far post header past the keeper and into goal to calm the increasingly tetchy, and wet, home crowd. Newcastle hit back just prior to full time when Claton Zane deflected a cross into the near post after a pathetic display of how to not clear a ball by South Melbourne. Hence it was rough justice to have a very long shot by Goran Lozanovski take a deflection from Paul Trimboli to go into the Breakers goal for an unlikely and undeserved South Melbourne win.
Match report by Alan Clark
Played (25/01/1998) Falcons Park Referee : G Connolly,, Crowd : 2604
Gippsland Falcons Bojo Jevdjevic, Claudio Canosa, Manny Gotis, Tony Sekulic, Doug Marcina, Nick Tsaltas (Brian MacNicol 64), Mark Foy, Joe Tricarico (John Hutchinson 88), Levent Osman, Willie Hastie, Zlatko Mihajlovic (Billy Mitroulas 82) Goals : Gotis 47, Marcina 52, 60	3	-	2	UTS Olympic Bob Catlin, Paul Carter, Ante Juric, Norman Tome, Peter Tsekenis, Brett Emerton, Elias Augerinos, Kain Rastall, Danny Barbalace, Husseyin Bayhan (Scott Baillie 74), Leo Carle (Chris Kalantzis 63) Goals : Bayhan 23, 44
Gippsland started the game like a juggernaut threatening to steamroll Catlin into the goalline. Naturally they fell behind when Huseyin Bayhan collected a cross from Emerton and scrambled the ball over the line. Bayhan then beat the offside trap and had his acute shot go in off the keeper for a 2 goal lead for Olympic at halftime. Finally the juggernaut did get rolling starting with a Gotis backpost header from a corner. Tricarico then ran at the UTS defence and laid the ball off for Doug Marcina to stroke home the equalising goal. Less than 10 mintues later Gippsland had completed the turnaround when a long range free kick was spilled by the keeper and Marcina was on hand to make the score 3-2.
Played (25/01/1998) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : P McCaffrey, Crowd : 2581
Adelaide Sharks David Miller, Alex Castro, Alex Kuzmanovic, Con Kokkinoplitis, Corey Artone, Nathan Day, Andrew Borghetto, Paul Pezos (Bill Misailidis 83), Reginaldo Bigu da Silva (Jose Iriarte 61), Jim Tsekinis, Pedro Oliveira (Adrian Iandorio 71)	0	-	2	Marconi-Fairfield Ante Covic, Mark Babic, Domenic Longo, Luke Casserly, Christian Care, Brad Maloney (sent off 44), Francis Awaritefe, Brendan Renaud, Pan Keun Kim, Vlado Zoric, Gabriel Mendez Goals : Mendez 41, Renaud 48pk
A series of headers from Maloney and Care gave the diminutive Mendez a rare headed goal. Maloney then got sent off before halftime after he crudely tackled Artone. Ultra bare goalkeeping cupboards saw Peter Miller guard the Sharks net and when Zoric released Care for a run into the box Miller dived at Care's feet and felled him for the penalty which Renaud converted.