1997/1998 Season Round 23 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (22/03/1998) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : M Shields, Crowd : 3716
Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Milan Ivanovic, Angelo Costanzo, Damian Mori (Michael Pirone 85), Bradley Hassell (Travis Dodd 68), Dino Mennillo, John Gibson, Kris Trajanovski (Mark Brazzale 80), Michael Brooks, Scott Thomas Goals : Mori 6, Brooks 21, Mennillo 25	3	-	1	Melbourne Knights Peter Schwellinger, Ante Kovacevic, Ivan Jolic, Ransford Banini, Andrew Marth (Joey Rajher 22), Tom Pondeljak, Ivan Kelic, Zeljko Susa, John Didulica, Ante Deak (Mijo Trupkovic 28), Zoran Markovski Goal : Deak 12
The Knights were in danger of having to start Andrew Marth in goal with injury, Olympic duty and contract disputes eliminating their entire goalkeeping staff. They got special dispensation to sign Peter Schwellinger after the transfer deadline by Soccer Australia. Damian Mori made Peter's day get off to a bad start. Receiving the ball with his back to goal Mori turned, found space and struck the ball beyond the keepers reach. Ante Deak got a quick reply when he skirted the defence with a turn of speed and deftly found the net just inside the far post from a tight angle. Things went downhill for the Knights from there, and don't we all love it. Ivan Jolic was caught in possession and found himself outnumbered 3:2 as all of Jolic's teammates went upfield to receive the clearance. Instead the ball was squared to Michael Brooks who wrongfooted the keeper and sent the ball into the net, narrowly missing a Knights hand along the way. Dino Mennillo finished the scoring with what looked like a curling cross but turned out to be a shot which had some Hagi-esque qualities to it as the ball dropped below the bar and inside the far post. Unstoppable.
Played (22/03/1998) Parramatta Stadium Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 2895
Sydney United Andrew Crews, Michael Santolab, Velimir Kupresak, Richard Plesa, Joe Vrkic, Robert Hooker, Mark Rudan, Marin Galic (Domenic Usalj 46), Abbas Saad, Mile Sterjovski, Mario Jerman (Nick Bosevski 82)	0	-	0	UTS Olympic Bob Catlin, Adam Ciantar, Ante Juric, Scott Baillie, Norman Tome, Peter Tsekenis, Derek Poimer (Kimon Taliadoros 72), Walter Ardone (Evangelos Petratos 81), Elias Augerinos, Ben Willard (Kain Rastall 75), Leo Carle
24 hours after the Australian Olympic team had managed to inflict a loss on their Brazilian counterparts the two local sides battled it out without much reward. Bob Catlin was the busier of the two keepers, but also the more solid as Andew Crews had to call on the post for at least one save. Certainly not a boring 0-0.
Played (22/03/1998) Brandon Park Referee : G Connolly, Crowd : 5334
Wollongong City Brett Hughes, Alvin Ceccoli, Robert Stanton, Jason Connolly, Matthew Horsley, Anthony Surjan, Sasho Dimoski (Esala Masi 68), Scott Chipperfield, George Souris, Tony Perinich (Raymond Younis 82), Kosta Salapasidis (Noel Spencer 68)	0	-	2	Adelaide Sharks David Miller, Frank Tibaldi, Alex Kuzmanovic, Branko Milosevic, Richie Alagich, Jose Iriarte, Alex Duric (Adrian Iandorio 85), Andrew Borghetto (Corey Artone 61), Paul Pezos, John Cutillo, Bill Misailidis Goals : Duric 2, Iriarte 73
A simple wall pass had Alex Duric running through on goal very early and the Wolves home record this season took another blow. The locals managed to keep the game tight, even had claims for what seemed like a clear penalty turned down before a booming David Miller clearance found Corey Artone whose cross was eventually headed in by Iriarte.
Played (22/03/1998) Bob Jane Stadium Referee : C Diomis, Crowd : 4450
South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Steve Iosifidis, Fausto de Amicis, Nick Orlic, Steve Panopoulos, Vaughan Coveny, Paul Trimboli, Con Boutsianis, Goran Lozanovski, John Anastasiadis (Frank Catalano 87), George Goutzioulis Goals : Boutsianis 12, Goutzioulis 19	2	-	1	Gippsland Falcons Bojo Jevdjevic, Clayton Bell (Billy Mitroulas 73), Claudio Canosa, Manny Gotis, Nick Palamaras, Doug Marcina, Nick Tsaltas (John Hutchinson 76), Mark Foy, Brian MacNicol, Levent Osman (Zlatko Mihajlovic 81), Willie Hastie Goal : Foy 44
Con Boutsianis' shot at goal took a huge deflection off the keeper but the ball still managed to loop into the net. Soon after George Goutzioulis' shot across goal from a Trimboli pass just eluded the keepers outstretched right foot on its more emphatic way into goal. Just before halftime Mark Foy reduced the margin but earlier he almost made Michael Petkovic look very silly indeed. Having collected a long ball forward Petkovic had the sun in his eyes and as he bounced the ball in preparation to launch a long ball of his own Mark Foy came from behind him and stole the ball on one of those bounces and turned to shoot but sent the ball wide. He was on target later when a Falcons corner fell at his feet inside the 6-yard-box.
Match report by Alan Clark
Played (22/03/1998) Perth Oval Referee : E Brazzale, Crowd : 15725
Perth Glory Anthony Franken, Gavin Wilkinson, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Paul Strudwick, Slobodan Despotovski (Samson Siasia 72), Ernie Tapai, James Afkos, Anthony Carbone (Paul McVittie 83), Vas Kalogeracos (Scott Halpin 78) Goal : Kalogeracos 24	1	-	1	Marconi-Fairfield Ante Covic, Mark Babic, Domenic Longo (sent off 82), Luke Casserly (Mauro van Cuylenberg 73), Darren McDonald, Brad Maloney, Zeljko Babic (Song Chul Yoon 79), Francis Awaritefe, Brendan Renaud, Pan Keun Kim, Vlado Zoric Goal : Kim 57
A long shot from Despotovski cannoned off the post and off the keeper before rolling almost along the goalline. Infact I suspect the ball was already over the line when Kalogeracos hammered the ball into the net from 0 centimetres but I can't be sure. Nobody at Perth seemed to know that the sweeper is allowed to take shots at goal so when Pan Keun Kim rolled into midfield and towards the penalty area nobody on the Perth side seemed to mind very much. When Kim sent his looping shot over Franken Perth realised the error of their ways. Perth looked good things to score a winner but failed to do so, even when Longo fouled Halpin and was sent off (elbow in the face by the last man in defence trying to stop a goalscoring opportunity) the 11 of Perth could not get past Marconi's 10.
Played (21/03/1998) Suncorp Stadium Referee : W Dade, Crowd : 2701
Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Glen Gwynne, Chris Zoricich, Craig Williams, Frank Farina (Chay Hews 65), Rod Brown (Royce Brownlie 82), Troy Cranney (Gray Blackford 65), Mark Battistin, Jeromy Harris, Andrew Packer, Andrew Harper Goals : Brown 21, Gwynne 44	2	-	2	Canberra Cosmos Anthony Giannasca, Andrew Roberts, Ante Moric (Tom Haythornthwaite 89), Gordon Hunter, Norman Kelly, Michael Musitano (Marko Perinovic 70), Peter Buljan, Lindsay Wilson, Toplica Popovich, Damien Brown, Jong Su Kim (Harry James 46) Goals : James 50, Perinovic 75
Rod Brown began the scoring with a goal very like Damian Mori's in this round, receiving the ball with his back to goal then turning, finding space and having a shot. They even both picked their aim to the upper left of the goalkeeper. Gwynne stretched the lead further when he benefitted from some work by Andy Harper, skipped past a defender and dragged the ball back across the keeper and into the net. Damian Browns pass to Harry James not long after the resumption was perfectly timed with James getting his foot to the ball just before Clint Bolton got there, the delicate touch just guiding the ball past Bolton. Brisbane must have been very disappointed to then give up an equalising goal when the bottom of the table team had Perinovic's head to thank for an away point.
Match report by David Marshall
Played (23/03/1998) Olympic Park Referee : J Blaney, Crowd : 1548
Carlton Dean Anastasiadis, Marcus Stergiopoulos, Sean Douglas, Con Anthopoulos, Kresimir Marusic, Lubomir Lapsansky (David Della Rocca 88), Andrew Vlahos, David Cervinski, Mark Atkinson, Marco Bresciano (Vlado Mirkovic 62), Adrian Cervinski (Alex Josefovski 67) Goals : Vlahos 55, 85pk, Josifoski 90	3	-	0	Newcastle Breakers Brad Swancott, Glen Sprod, Shane Pryce, Todd McManus (Johnny Fondoulakis 85), Robert Ironside (Mark Wilson 47), Peter Ritchie, Reece Tollenaere, Fouad Umlie, Matthew Lowe, Leo Langone (Doug West 81), Eddy Bosnar