1997/1998 Season Round 21 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (08/03/1998) Parramatta Stadium Referee : E Lennie, Crowd : 2065
Sydney United Zeljko Kalac, Jacob Burns, Mark Rudan, Robert Hooker, Stuart Munro (Jason Culina 46), Joe Moric, Peter Bennett, Paul Bilokapic, Marcus Philips, Mile Sterjovski, Mario Jerman (Nick Bosevski 88) Goals : Bilokapic 63pk, Jerman 77	2	-	1	Adelaide Sharks David Miller, Frank Tibaldi, Alex Kuzmanovic, Con Kokkinoplitis (Adrian Iandorio 73), Corey Artone, Richie Alagich, Alex Duric, Andrew Borghetto (Jose Iriarte 60 (sent off 80)), Paul Pezos, Lou Hristodoulou (John Cutillo 16), Bill Misailidis Goal : Artone 40
Adelaide briefly had the lead which, if held, would have given them their first road win of the season. An Alagich lob over the defence was, briefly, caught by Kalac but the ball slipped through his arms and legs, coming out the other side for Corey Artone to tap into the empty net for the lead. A Philips cross was won by Jerman but a hand by Milisadis gave the Sharks a chance to clear the ball. However Eddie Lennie spotted the infringement and gave the penalty which was duly converted. Bilokapic returned the favour to Jerman by setting him up for a goal which Jerman scored with a neat lob. The Sharks had a man sent off, namely Jose Iriarte, for throwing the ball at the head of Jason Culina after a free kick had been awarded. To be fair Jason had just finished digging his foot out of Iriarte's back.
Played (08/03/1998) Brandon Park Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 7148
Wollongong City Brett Hughes, Alvin Ceccoli (sent off 19), Robert Stanton, Jason Connolly, Matthew Horsley, Scott Chipperfield, George Souris, Noel Spencer (Sasho Dimoski 68), Tony Perinich, Esala Masi, Kosta Salapasidis (Ljupco Naumovski 60) Goal : Perinich 32	1	-	2	South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Fausto de Amicis, Nick Orlic, Con Blatsis, Steve Panopoulos, Vaughan Coveny (Con Boutsianis 75), Paul Trimboli, Goran Lozanovski (Frank Catalano 80), Tansel Baser, John Anastasiadis (Bill Damianos 65), George Goutzioulis Goals : Goutzioulis 6, Coveny 39
South Melbourne were away to a quick start when a long ball was controlled by the one guy chasing it and laid back to the support eventually giving Goutzioulis a run through the bewildered defence and Brett Hughes only managed a non-consequential touch as the ball went into the net. Wollonong briefly equalised but not through a penalty awarded when Blatsis just dug his knees into an opponents chest when trying to head a bouncing ball away. For good measure he landed his studs into the side of the knee of the fouled player. Connolly put his penalty shot wide of the post. To make things worse Alvin Ceccoli was sent off for an off the ball incident as the penalty was taken. As I said the equaliser did come when Chipperfield played a little chip (pun!) into the 6 yard box which Perinich put a glancing header to. It wasn't long though before a Lozanovski corner found Coveny's head and the back of the net. Trimboli played a part too in blocking Brett Hughes' view of the events until it was too late.
Played (08/03/1998) Perth Oval Referee : W Dade, Crowd : 11260
Perth Glory Anthony Franken, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Paul Strudwick, Slobodan Despotovski, Samson Siasia, Danny Hay, Anthony Carbone, Troy Halpin, Vas Kalogeracos (Scott Halpin 70) Goals : Kalogeracos 60, Despotovski 90+pk	2	-	1	Gippsland Falcons Jim Kourtis, Clayton Bell, Claudio Canosa, Manny Gotis, Tony Sekulic (sent off 85), Nick Palamaras, Doug Marcina (Zlatko Mihajlovic 81), Nick Tsaltas (Levent Osman 69), Mark Foy, Brian MacNicol (Archie Thompson 53), Willie Hastie (sent off 49) Goal : Canosa 6
It is one of the oddities of the league where Perth have a dismal home record yet play so well away. The usual explanation is that the weight of home crowd expectation weighs too heavily. Well this time the crowd went home happy although the opening goal would have been a dire warning. The goal coming from a corner which Canosa managed to get his head to in a very crowded 6 yard box. Still Perth persevered and had some chances before Will Hastie was sent off for a second yellow card which turned the game in Perths favour. Siasia and Despotovski set up Kalogeracos for a shot from the left side of goal which went in much to the relief to all but a few people in the ground. Relief turned to ecstasy when a penalty was awarded in injury time to give Perth a precious win helping them in their quest for a finals berth. Gippsland finished the game with 9 men after Tony Sekulic also got his marching orders.
Match report by Searlais Mullen Match report by David Komadina
Played (08/03/1998) Knights Stadium Referee : G Leverton, Crowd : 3584
Melbourne Knights Joe Didulica, Ante Kovacevic, Ivan Jolic, Ransford Banini (Zoran Markovski 83), Andrew Marth, Tom Pondeljak, Ivan Kelic (Damon Collins 84), Zeljko Susa, Dragi Nastevski, John Didulica, Ante Deak (Joey Rajher 86) Goals : Marth 41, Kelic 52, Susa 79	3	-	1	Canberra Cosmos Anthony Giannasca, Paul Dee, Andrew Roberts, Tom Haythornthwaite, Andrew Ravanello, Harry James, Michael Musitano (Jong Su Kim 62 (sent off 79)), Peter Buljan, Dale Wingell (Damien Brown 77), Toplica Popovich, Jason Dunn (lindsay Wilson 71) Goal : Dunn 56
Things went according to the form guide in Melbourne and Canberra, having parted ways with coach Culina, could have suffered more but managed a goal of their own after Marth and Kelic both scored solid, yet unspectacular goals. Zeljko Susa rounded out the afternoon in the park for Melbourne with a nice goal from out wide.
Played (08/03/1998) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : B Panella, Crowd : 4642
Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo (Mark Yates 80), Damian Mori (Travis Dodd 68), Dino Mennillo, John Gibson, Kris Trajanovski, Michael Brooks, Scott Thomas	0	-	1	UTS Olympic Bob Catlin, Adam Ciantar, Ante Juric, Scott Baillie, Norman Tome (Derek Poimer 65), Peter Tsekenis, Brett Emerton, Chris Kalantzis, Kain Rastall, Nick Carle (Elias Augerinos 60), Leo Carle (Evangelos Petratos 83) Goal : Tome 23
The Carle brothers are at it again. When they're not scoring goals then, as here, they set them up. This time Leo Carle curled a cross to the far post where Norman Tome was able to volley the ball into the net largely thanks to being completely unmarked. Adelaide City then totally dominated the game but failed to overcome their rivals.
Match report by Rob Giacomini
Played (07/03/1998) Suncorp Stadium Referee : C Diomis, Crowd : 3129
Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Glenn Gwynne (Gary Blackford 22), Matt Bell, Chris Zoricich, Troy Cranney, Danny Invincible, Andrew Brayshaw (Sean Cranney 65), Chay Hews, Jeromy Harris, Stephen Laybutt (sent off 86), Royce Brownlie (Andrew Harper 54) Goal : Harper 65	1	-	1	Newcastle Breakers Brad Swancott, Glen Sprod, Shane Pryce, Todd McManus, Robert Ironside, Reece Tollenaere, Jason Bennett, Doug West (Peter Ritchie 65), Liam McGuire (Matt Lowe 75), Leo Langone (Mark Wilson 89), Eddy Bosnar Goal : Tollenaere 82
Brisbane must be tired of these draws at home. Both goalkeepers did well to keep a clean sheet in the first half and it was the much maligned (rightly so, but still...) Andy Harper who broke the deadlock with Brisbanes 3rd shot at goal from a corner which Newcaslt kept blocking. Reece Tollenaere did his former club a disservice by restoring the deadlock with a deft lob over the keeper. Brisbane then also lost Stephen Laybutt for a second yellow card offence and generally had little luck and not much to show.
Played (07/03/1998) Optus Oval Referee : M Shield, Crowd : 2944
Carlton Dean Anastasiadis, Robert Trajkovski, Sean Douglas, Con Anthopoulos, Lubomir Lapsansky, Andrew Vlahos (Adrian Cervinski 68), Vince Grella, John Markovski, David Cervinski, Mark Atkinson (Marcus Stergiopoulos 63), Marco Bresciano	0	-	1	Marconi-Fairfield Ante Covic, Mark Babic, Christian Care (Zeljko Babic 57), Darren McDonald (Paul Souris 88), Brad Maloney, Song Chul Yoon (Mauro van Cuylenberg 57), Francis Awaritefe, Brendan Renaud, Pan Keun Kim, Vlado Zoric, Mike Smith Goal : Zoric 90+
Con Anthopoulos fouled Sean Babic for a penalty to be awarded late in the game, basically the winner. However Brendan Renaud managed only to strike the post holding up the back of the net, the draw appeared to be destined until deep into injury time when a Babic shot was blocked by Anastasiadis but Zoric's follow-up shot went in for the win.