1998/99 Season Round 01 Results written by Thomas Esamie and John Punshon
Played (09/10/1998) North Sydney Oval Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 18985
Northern Spirit Paul Henderson, Eddie Bosnar, Ian Crook, Mark Rudan (sent off 15), Luke Casserly, Kresimir Marusic, Robbie Slater, Graham Arnold (Michael Cunico 74), Troy Cranney, Paul Bilokapic (Daniel Watkins 67), Clayton Zane	0	-	2	Sydney Olympic Jim Kourtis, Adam Ciantar, Peter Tsekenis, Kimon Taliadoros, Mark Brennan, Adem Poric (sent off 15), Scott Thomas (Ante Juric 89), Chris Kalantzis, Brett Emerton (Nick Carle 80), Norman Tome (Jason Culina 72), Pablo Cardozo Goals : Kalantzis 52, Cardozo 56
The new kids on the block set an attendance record for a regular season match in their very first outing but failed to reward the crowd with a win. Despite creating several chances Olympic made a better fist of it and scored twice in a few minutes, the second goal coming from a clever Cardozo lob after a goalkeeping error by young Henderson. Poric and Rudan were both sent off for fighting in the early part of the match which resulted in a bit of a scuffle between the two sides.
Match report by Julian Farrell
Played (10/10/1998) Suncorp Stadium Referee : E Brazzale, Crowd : 6155
Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Glen Gwynne, Chris Zoricich, Steve Laybutt, Andy Harper (Wayne Knipe 88), Sean Cranney, Reece Tollenaere, Kasey Wehrman, Chay Hews, Jeromy Harris, Nick Meredith Goals : Harris 11, Tollenaere 44, Wehrman 71pk	3	-	2	Marconi-Fairfield Ante Covic, Mark Babic (Mike Smith 28), Marcus Phillips, Dominic Longo, Pan Keun Kim, Brad Maloney, Danny Invincible (Christian Care 65), Francis Awaritefe, Brendan Renaud, Kris Trajanovski, Vlado Zoric (Sean Babic 75) Goals : Maloney 15, Awaritefe 83
Frank Farine returned to Suncorp Stadium, but this time as coach of the visitors and Brisbane now headed by former Newcastle coach and another Socceroo legend, John Kosmina. Not really a happy homecoming.
Match report by John Croft Match report by David Marshall
Played (11/10/1998) Edensor Park Referee : M Breeze, Crowd : 6221
Sydney United Andrew Crews, David Barrett, Richard Plesa, Velimir Kupresak, Joe Vrkic, Jacob Burns, Walter Ardone, Steve Berry, Peter Bennett, Mile Sterjovski (Joe Caleta 82), Joel Griffiths (David Mitchell 73) Goal : Sterjovski 34	1	-	1	Newcastle Breakers Bob Catlin, Shane Pryce, Adam Sanderson (Andy Roberts 82), Todd McManus, Glenn Sprod, John Buonavoglia, Andrew Borghetto (Chris Tancheski 76), Fouad Umlil, Brad Wieczorek, Robert Shannon, Tom Haythornthwaite (Mark Wilson 58) Goal : Bounavoglia 56
Match report by Chris Dunkerley
Played (11/10/1998) Optus Oval Referee : M Shield, Crowd : 2746
Carlton Dean Anastasiadis, Mark Atkinson, Simon Colosimo, Sean Douglas, Marcus Stergiopoulos, Andy Vlahos, Andrew Marth, Lubomir Lapsansky, Marco Bresciano (Cameron Pino 80), Alex Moreira, Joe Tricarico (Vince Grella 63) Goals : Colosimo 15, 43, 46, Vlahos 78	4	-	0	Wollongong City Les Pogliacomi, George Souris (Esala Masi 46), Alvin Ceccoli, Robert Stanton, Sebastian Sinozic, Matthew Horsley, Michael Brooks (Kosta Salapasidis 46), Anthony Surjan, Sasha Dimoski (David Huxley 76), Scott Chipperfield, Raymond Younis
Match report by David Arnold
Played (11/10/1998) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : G Connolly, Crowd : 5029
Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Alex Tobin, Carlo Talladira, Damian Mori (Bradley Armour 75), Carl Veart, Dino Mennillo, Angelo Costanzo, Bradley Hassell, David Terminello, Damian Stam, Dongi Ki Kim	0	-	1	Perth Glory Danny Milosevic, Robert Trajkovski, Scott Miller (James Afkos 57 (Troy Halpin 83)), Vinko Buljubasic, Gavin Wilkinson, Danny Hay, Gareth Naven, Paul Strudwick, John Markovski (Con Boutsianis 87), Slobodan Despotovski, Vas Kalogeracos Goal : Strudwick 4
Played (11/10/1998) Bob Jane Stadium Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 7230
South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Steve Iosifidis, Fausto De Amicis, Nick Orlic, David Clarkson, Steve Panopoulos, Paul Trimboli (George Goutzioulis 83), Michael Curcija (Vaughan Coveny 73), John Anastasiadis (Jim Tsekinis 61), Tansel Baser, Goran Lozanovski Goals : Curcija 5, Coveny 81	2	-	1	Gippsland Falcons Bojo Jevdjevic, Michael Anderson, Manny Gotis, Jeff Hopkins, Levent Osman (Billy Mitroulas 86), Brian MacNicol (Adrian Savage 71), Clayton Bell, Archie Thompson, Marko Perinovic, Andy Vargas (John Hutchinson 46), Willie Hastie Goal : Bell 69
The live TV game of the week and early it looked like South Melbourne would run away with the match and after the early goal came Souths were already unlucky not to be 2 or 3 in front. Of course once they got the goal they eased off and Gippsland found their feet and often those of their opponents. Referee Hugo found cause for issuing several yellow cards to the Falcons but they held firm in defence and Archie Thompson appeared to be the Falcons most likely source of an equaliser. In the end Clayton Bell got on the end of a pass which left the Souths defenders appealing for an offside (which wasn't at all there) and Bell managed to lift the ball over the diving keeper and inside the far post. Thompson almost put the Falcons into the lead but in the end Souths used their get out of jail free card when Coveny outpaced the only defender willing or able to track back and Coveny's shot, despite having no business doing so, went past the outstretched foot of the keeper by about a centimetre and made the inside of the far post by about the same margin before the ball eventually bounced into the net.
Played (11/10/1998) Bruce Stadium Referee : E Lennie, Crowd : 2797
Canberra Cosmos Vilson Knezevic, Harry James, Toplica Popovich, Danny Burt, Lindsay Wilson (David Arranz 13), Ivan Zelic, Doug Marcina, Peter Buljan, Andrew Clark, Michael Musitano, Norman Kelly Goal : James 32	1	-	3	Adelaide Sharks David Miller, Richie Alagich, Alex Castro, Alex Kuzmanovic, Paul Souris, Con Kokkinoplitis, Branko Milosevic (Paul Pezos 55), Hamilton Thorp (Danny Vidakovic 75), Derek Poimer, Alex Duric, John Gibson Goals : Duric 1, Gibson 38, Vidakovic 90
Match report by Warwick Cathro Match report by Nick Guoth