1997/1998 Season Round 19 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (22/02/98) Perth Oval Referee : G Connolly, Crowd : 13228
Perth Glory Anthony Franken, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Ernie Tapai (Paul Strudwick 46), James Afkos (Paul McVittie 51), Scott Halpin, Danny Hay, Anthony Carbone (Peter Vukmirovic 46), Troy Halpin, Vas Kalogeracos, Gavin Wilkinson Goals : Kalogeracos 3, S Halpin 60, 75	3	-	4	Newcastle Breakers Brad Swancott, Glen Sprod, Matthew Austin, Shane Pryce, Todd McManus, Robert Ironside, Clayton Zane (Liam McGuire 32 (Mark Wilson 82)), Reece Tollenaere, Jason Bennett (Matthew Lowe 63), Doug West, Leo Langone Goals : Tollenaere 6, 14, 86, Pryce 24pk
Perth got off to a good start with the returning Kalogeracos putting the ball between the keepers legs early only to see Newcastle score the next three goals. Reece Tollenaere headed in the first goal opportunistically and then a turn and shot to make it two before a foul on Langone gave Shane Pryce the spotkick which he duly converted. Perth still manged to level the game (they should have been leading had Tapai managed to score from the penalty Perth were awarded) when Scott Halpin first headed home a corner and then poked the ball in after some good work on the right made the cross a relatively easy put away. Tollenaere then capped off a hattrick when he sidefooted a ball into the net at the near post to break Perth's hearts and send those of Newcastle into raptures.
Played (22/02/98) Parramatta Stadium Referee : M Shields, Crowd : 1419
Sydney United Zeljko Kalac, David Barrett (sent off 53), Velimir Kupresak (sent off 79), Richard Plesa (sent off 66), Joe Vrkic, Robbie Hooker, Peter Bennett, Marcus Philips, Paul Bilokapic (Jacob Burns 61), Abbas Saad, Nick Bosevski (Mario Jerman 63)	0	-	3	Melbourne Knights Joe Didulica, Ante Kovacevic (Ice Kutlesovski 65), Ivan Jolic, Ransford Banini (Dragi Nastevski 50), Zeljko Susa, Alan Davidson, Tom Pondeljak, Ivan Kelic, Joey Rajher, John Didulica, Ante Deak (Zoran Markovski 65) Goals : Kelic 40, Pondeljak 61, 67pk
The Southerners came to Sydney and surprised their sister club eventhough the home team played well enough early to suggest they might take out the game. Ante Deak pushed his way through the rather thin defence and pushed the ball into the path of Kelic who poked the ball into goal from a tight angle. That was Melbourne warming up. Sydney United suffered another blow when Tom Pondeljak, who was holding David Barrett back, got an elbow to the face for his indiscretion and the referee sent Barrett off. Pondeljak then rubbed salt into the wound when the Knights kicked the ball anywhere when under pressure from Sydney, happened to find one of only two of their men upfield. He in turn managed to find the other in a similar hit and hope mission and Tom Pondeljak ran clear of Joe Vrkic, the last defender, to score. Pondeljak then converted the penalty which was awarded when Richard Plesa brought down Ivan Kelic in the box. Plesa was sent off. Just when Sydney thought they could manage to end the game with 9 men they finished with 8 when Kupresak also got sent off after an altercation with a Melbourne player.
Played (22/02/98) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 3477
Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Mark Yates, Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo (Mark Brazzale 88), Damian Mori, Bradley Hassell (Kris Trajanovski 62), Dino Mennillo (Michael Pirone 76), John Gibson, Michael Brooks, Scott Thomas Goals : Mori 3, 84, Mennillo 65, Trajanovski 90+	4	-	1	Canberra Cosmos Anthony Giannasca, Andrew Dee, Andrew Ravanello (Andrew Roberts 80), Ante Moric (Lindsay Wilson 70), Gordon Hunter, Norman Kelly, Harry James (Ilija Prenzoski 75), Peter Buljan, Dale Wingell, Toplica Popovich, Tom Haythornthwaite Goal : Buljan 19
Mori just keeps scoring goals and he started early against Canberra with a header from a looping Costanzo cross all on a quick counterattack. Peter Buljan interjected with a curling shot past the keeper but Canberra couldn't hold out for the draw and Mennillo scrambled the ball over the line from a corner before Mori put the ball in again with a long range effort into the top corner. The crowd were well pleased and even more glee came their way when in injury time a bouncing ball was emphatically struck into the net on the volley by Trajanovski.
Played (22/02/98) Brandon Park Referee : E Lennie, Crowd : 6631
Wollongong City Brett Hughes, Robert Stanton, Jason Connolly, Matthew Horsley, Anthony Surjan, Scott Chipperfield, George Souris, Tony Perinich, David Huxley (Raymond Younis 89), Esala Masi (Sasho Dimoski 76), Kosta Salapasidis (Noel Spencer 83) Goals : Salapasidis 22, 77, Perinich 70	3	-	2	UTS Olympic Bob Catlin, Adam Ciantar, Ante Juric, Scott Baillie, Norman Tome, Peter Tsekenis, Brett Emerton, Chris Kalantzis (Elias Augerinos 46), Walter Ardone (Eric Hristodoulou 65), Kain Rastall, Nick Carle (Leo Carle 82) Goals : Tome 40, Emerton 45
Another high scoring game and Salapasidis, back from trialling with Torino opened the scoring with a shot to the near post when it looked like the Wollongong attack had lost ideas once managing to bring the ball inside the box. Norman Tome hit back and minutes later fellow young Socceroo Emerton also weighed in, giving UTS the halftime lead. However Wollongong's fearsome home form was maintained and first Tony Perinich ran at the defence and struck the ball past the keeper (meanwhile the lighting at the ground was making it hard to see the action for this evening fixture) and then Salapasidis popped up again to finish a move started by Perinich and Sujan.
Played (22/02/98) Falcons Park Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 2620
Gippsland Falcons Jim Kourtis, Tony Sekulic, Doug Marcina, Nick Palamaras (Paul Byrne 85), Nick Tsaltas (Mark Foy 68), Willie Hastie, Joe Tricarico, Levent Osman, Clayton Bell, Archie Thompson, Zlatko Mihajlovic (Brian MacNicol 60)	0	-	0	Adelaide Sharks David Miller, Alex Castro, Frank Tibaldi, Alex Kuzmanovic, Branko Milosevic, Con Kokkinoplitis, Jose Iriarte (Andrew Borghetto 71), John Cutillo (Richie Alagich 71), Lou Hristodoulou (Paul Pezos 83), Bill Misailidis, Alex Duric
No goals and very little of note either way with Gippsland having the bulk of chances but lacking the experience to make something of it.
Played (22/02/98) Bob Jane Stadium Referee : E Brazzale, Crowd : 6380
South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Steve Iosifidis, Fausto de Amicis, Nick Orlic, Con Blatsis, David Clarkson, Steve Panopoulos, Paul Trimboli, Michael Curcija (Con Boutsianis 69), Goran Lozanovski (Vaughan Coveny 67), John Anastasiadis (George Goutzioulis 84) Goals : Anastasiadis 37, 75, Panopoulos 58	3	-	1	Marconi Fairfield Ante Covic, Mark Babic (Chad Gibson 9), Domenic Longo, Luke Casserly (Paul Souris 80), Christian Care, Darren McDonald (Luke Tomich 84), Brad Maloney, Zeljko Babic, Francis Awaritefe, Pan Keun Kim, Vlado Zoric Goal : Zoric 51
They still turn out for the big games but while in the past this fixture would easily have been a 10000+ game it drew less than 7000. The home fans did get to see a good performance and more importantly a win. A Trimboli ball out wide found Lozanovski whose cross was controlled by Anastasiadis who found himself with an embarrassment of space and time before poking the ball in. Marconi pulled a goal back when sustained Marconi pressure gave Zoric an opportunity to make space in a packed penalty area, which he miraculously did, and shoot for goal, which he also did though somewhat less miraculous. It didn't take long for South Melbourne restore their lead when a pass forward from Panopoulos to Anastasiadis was held up by the latter and laid off to the former who had followed in. Panopoulos struck the ball first time past Covic. Easy really. Just to make sure a third was scored by Anastasiadis, receiving the pass from Trimboli and rounding the keeper.
Played (21/02/98) Optus Oval Referee : M Breeze, Crowd : 2716
Carlton Dean Anastasiadis, Sean Douglas, Con Anthopoulos, Lubomir Lapsansky (Robert Trajkovski 79), Andy Vlahos (Cameron Pino 71), Simon Colosimo, Vince Grella, John Markovski, Mark Atkinson, Alex Josefovski (Pece Sivoski 89), Marco Bresciano Goal : Lapsansky 36	1	-	1	Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Glenn Gwynne, Chris Zoricich, Nick Meredith, Sean Cranney, Rod Brown (Andrew Brayshaw 66), Troy Cranney, Chay Hews, Jeromy Harris (Danny Invincible 74), Stephen Laybutt, Andrew Harper Goal : Meredith 53
Brisbane got the first draw of the season in a game that was relatively dull. Lubomir Lapsansky threatened some entertainment when he managed to curl a free kick from near the corner of the penalty area inside the near post and made the ill positioned keeper pay the price. Brisbane deservedly got the equaliser when Meredith let his trademark left foot take a swing at the ball from well outside the penalty area and unleash an absolute piledriver over the head of Anastasiadis and just under the crossbar. Ouch!