1997/1998 Season Round 25 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (05/04/1998) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : E Brazzale, Crowd : 7937
Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Mark Yates (Travis Dodd 71), Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo, Damian Mori, John Gibson, Kris Trajanovski (Dino Mennillo 68), Michael Brooks, Scott Thomas Goals : Brooks 18, 30, Mori 22	3	-	1	Adelaide Sharks David Miller, Frank Tibaldi, Alex Kuzmanovic, Branko Milosevic, Con Kokkinoplitis, Nathan Day (Adrian Iandorio 77), Alex Duric, Andrew Borghetto, John Cutillo (Jim Tsekinis 58), Bill Misailidis, Lou Hristodoulou (Aaran Westervelt 73) Goal : Milosevic 3
The local derby in Adelaide is always something special and the latest edition was amusing enough when Milosevic headed in from a free kick to get the nominal away side away to a quick lead. City, in the form of Tobin, missed a penalty by smacking it into the crossbar but score through Brooks and Mori gave City the lead with a curling shot into the net. Brooks slotted home a third to seal the City win before halftime and while the Sharks were keeping at the task it was City's night and they could easily have scored more but David Miller showed he wasn't just the kind of token keeper which teams tend to get when they run out of first teamers.
Played (05/04/1998) Knights Stadium Referee : M Shield, Crowd : 4380
Melbourne Knights Joe Didulica, Ante Kovacevic, Ivan Jolic, Ransford Banini, Dragi Nastevski, Zoran Markovski, Zeljko Susa, Tom Pondeljak, Ivan Kelic, Joey Rajher (sent off 56), Mijo Trupkovic (Ice Kutlesovski 75) Goals : Kelic 38, 86	2	-	1	UTS Olympic Bob Catlin, Adam Ciantar, Ante Juric, Scott Baillie, Norman Tome, Derek Poimer (Nick Carle 79), Brett Emerton, Chris Kalantzis (Elias Augerinos 65), Walter Ardone, Ben Willard, Leo Carle (Kimon Taliadoros 46) Goal : Ardone 73
Kelic had some early chances and eventually opened the scoring when he saw Catlin off his line and he put the long ball forward over Catlins head for a well taken opportunist goal. Olympic got themsleves into a somewhat better position when Joey Rahja managed to get himself sent off for his second yellow card. His first came from a tackle from behind which was all Emerton and zero ball, then after the break he crudely clipped Ardone's ankles. Rahja even waited on the pitch surreptitiously hoping Mark Shield had forgotten the earlier indisgression but he had not. It was Ardone who briefly restored parity on the scoresheet when a thunderbolt at goal from the left side struck the post holding up the inside of the net and promptly cannoned back out. Thankfully the referee knew it was a goal and awarded it. Melbourne won the game when Banini broke out of the defence, set Kutlesovski up out wide and his cross picked out Kelic who headed back across goal and hit the side netting at the far post.
Played (05/04/1998) Olympic Park Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 3324
Carlton Dean Anastasiadis, Sean Douglas, Con Anthopoulos, Kresimir Marusic, Lubomir Lapsansky (Marco Bresciano 63), Andrew Vlahos, Simon Colosimo, Vince Grella (Mark Atkinson 51), John Markovski (Adrian Cervinski 73), David Cervinski, David Della Rocca Goals : Vlahos 27, 65, 83pk, Bresciano 71	4	-	1	Gippsland Falcons Bojo Jevdjevic, Clayton Bell, Claudio Canosa, Nick Palamaras, Doug Marcina (Peter Di Iorio 66), Mark Foy, Archie Thompson (Luke Cheney 71), Brian MacNicol, Willie Hastie, Levent Osman (sent off 15), Joe Tricarico (Zlatko Mihajlovic 71) Goal : Cheney 75
Levent Osman was sent off for a second yellow card before any scoring took place. Andy Vlahos ran onto the ball and shot home for the opening goal and after halftime doubled the Carlton lead. Markovski set up Bresciano for a quick strike on goal before Gippsland could do anything to stop the onslaught. Luke Cheney getting the luck of a bounce in a goalmouth panic and poked the ball in before the Gippsland keeper brought down a Carlton player which gave Vlahos the chance to complete his hat-trick. No problem there.
Played (04/04/1998) Suncorp Stadium Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 3676
Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Glenn Gwynne, Chris Zoricich (Mark Battistin 80), Craig Williams, Rod Brown (Andrew Packer 70), Chay Hews (sent off 89), Jeromy Harris, Stephen Laybutt, Andrew Harper, Gary Blackford (Sean Cranney 62), Wayne Srhoj	0	-	0	Marconi-Fairfield Ante Covic, Mark Babic, Domenic Longo, Luke Casserly (Christian Care 87), Darren McDonald, Brad Maloney, Song Chul Yoon (Mauro van Cuylenberg 67), Francis Awaritefe, Brendan Renaud, Pan Keun Kim, Vlado Zoric
Brisbane at home? Chalk up a draw. Brisbane did get a goal but had it ruled out for offside and at the other end Clint Bolton put a stop to any Marconi ambitions for goal. Francis Awaritefe was trying hard to stop his goal drought but just managed to frustrate himself and ended up getting very shirty with Stephen Laybutt just as the former looked like getting the goal which the latter just managed to stop him getting his shot in. Brisbane suffered further when Chay Hews was sent off for a second yellow card after a tackle on Brad Maloney and the only consolation for them is that the season is almost over for them and soon another team will hold the championship.
Played (04/04/1998) Brandon Park Referee : W Dade, Crowd : 5150
Wollongong City Brett Hughes, Alvin Ceccoli, Robert Stanton, Matthew Horsley, Anthony Surjan (Noel Spencer 81), Sasho Dimoski, Scott Chipperfield, George Souris, Tony Perinich (Jason Connolly 88), Sebastian Sinozic, Kosta Salapasidis (Esala Masi 73) Goal : Chipperfield 61	1	-	0	Perth Glory Anthony Franken, Gavin Wilkinson, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Slobodan Despotovski, Ernie Tapai, Samson Siasia (Paul McVittie 46), Danny Hay, Anthony Carbone (James Afkos 71), Vas Kalogeracos (Scott Halpin 71)
Wollongong had more to play for in this game and it finally showed eventhough Perth were far from disgraced. The only goal of the game when Salapasidis found Chipperfield in too much room to pick his spot and make the shot from the square pass he got. Wollongong finally make the 6 after so many years of trying.
Played (05/04/1998) Parramatta Stadium Referee : E Lennie, Crowd : 2626
Sydney United Andrew Crews, David Barrett, Velimir Kupresak, Richard Plesa, Joe Vrkic, Peter Bennett, Mark Rudan, Jacob Burns (Jason Culina 73), Stuart Munro (Mario Jermen 78), Abbas Saad, Mile Sterjovski Goals : Sterjovski 30, Bennett 51	2	-	2	South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Steve Iosifidis (sent off 68), Fausto de Amicis (Tansel Baser 56), Nick Orlic, Con Blatsis, Steve Panopoulos, Vaughan Coveny, Paul Trimboli, Bill Damianos, Con Boutsianis (David Clarkson 70), John Anastasiadis (Michael Curcija 78) Goals : Anastasiadis 6, Clarkson 78
Boutsianis broke the offside trap, eliminated the keeper with a square ball to Anastasiadis and a simple tap-in opened the scoring. Sydney hit back and equalised with Mile Sterjovski's half hearted shot on the volley mishandled by Petkovic and Sterjovski made no mistake with the follow up. Sydney then hit the lead when Bennett bleated his header into the goal after Saad's cross seemed to hang in the air forever. South Melbourne sealed top spot for the finals with a latish goal despite the send off of Iosifidis for tugging back Sterjovski in the last line of defence. A Damianos ball into the area was headed back by Trimboli where Clarkson was on hand to volley the ball into the net in a delightful exhibition of one-touch football and the 2-2 final score.
Played (03/04/1998) Topper Stadium Referee : C Diomis, Crowd : 3344
Newcastle Breakers Brad Swancott, Glen Sprod, Shane Pryce, Todd McManus, Peter Ritchie, Clayton Zane, Reece Tollenaere, Jason Bennett, Matthew Lowe, Leo Langone (Doug West 70), Eddy Bosnar, Goals : Pryce 12pk, Bosnar 54	2	-	1	Canberra Cosmos Anthony Giannasca, Paul Dee, Andrew Roberts, Ante Moric, Gordon Hunter, Norman Kelly, Harry James, Michael Musitano (Damian Brown 60), Peter Buljan (Lindsay Wilson 69), Marko Perinovic (sent off 53), Toplica Popovich Goal : Buljan 59
The battle of the wooden spooners began badly for Canberra when Clayton Zane turned inside the box and was brought down, Shane Pryce converted the resulting penalty kick. Newcastle held the lead until halftime and extended the lead afterwards again from a set piece when Hunter conceded a free kick outside the area and Bosnar blasted it in. Canberra came back and Peter Buljan slotted the ball into goal through a crowded area but Canberra couldn't get back into the game and essentially ensured a bottom finish for the side from the nations capital. Oh and Perinovic was sent off too.I don't know why.
Match report by Chris Dunkerley