1994-95 Season Playoff Matches
Perhaps a cautionary note is appropriate here. The Australian League
championship is decided by one of these newfangled playoff deals. So
the top six teams at the end of the regular season continue to battle
for supremacy.
Major Semi-Final
(Two legs)
Adelaide City ,----winner---------------------------GRAND FINAL
v -------c |
Melbourne Knights `-------loser----PRELIMINARY |
FINAL ----winner--'
|
Elimination |
Semi Finals |
(Two legs) |
West Adelaide |
v ----winner------MINOR ---winner--'
Sydney United SEMI-FINAL
|
|
Morwell Falcons |
v --winner-------'
South Melbourne
Elimination Semi-Finals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15/4 (1st leg) 23/4 (2nd leg)
Morwell Falcons 0 South Melbourne 5 (Paul Trimboli 12)
(Mike Petersen 30)
(Kevin Muscat 45)
(Ivan Kelic 59)
(Jason Polak 64)
South Melbourne 1 (Ivan Kelic 60) Morwell Falcons 1 (John Markovski 66)
MF : Matassa, Marcina, Canosa, Miller, MF : Matassa, Parton, Miller, Canosa,
Tapai, Douglas, Spink, Sevin Marcina (Waddell 45), Douglas,
Markovski (Villani 29), Sevin, Upton, Tapai (sent off 69),
Waddell (Upton 73) Spink, Bothwell (Markovski 45)
SM : Anastasiadis, Kuzmanovic, Mangos, SM : Anastasiadis, Kuzmanovic, Muscat,
Valkanis, Lucchetta, Panopoulos, Valkanis (Mangos 65), Lucchetta,
Petersen, Polak, Trimboli, Kelic, Panopoulos, Polak, Boutsianis,
Boutsianis (Awaritefe 71) Petersen (Awaritefe 65), Kelic,
Trimboli
[Damn it! Those Souths boys made sure ] [Well I didn't expect this but Souths]
[Markovski didn't play long. Despite ] [have managed to beat the Falcons and]
[some enterprising play by the Falcons] [have done it convincingly. The pitch]
[Souths won the tie by scoring a] [was in extremely poor condition due ]
[crucial away goal, though I have my ] [to a rock concert. Of course it was ]
[suspicion that the ball hit Kelic for] [the same for both sides. In the end]
[the goal rather than the other way ] [frustration got the better of Ernie ]
[around.] [Tapai and he was sent off for ]
[striking Kevin Muscat.]
16/4 (1st leg) 23/4 (2nd leg)
West Adelaide 1 (Robbie Hooker 44 pk) Sydney United 1 (Ante Milicic 51)
Sydney United 1 (Mario Jermen 90) West Adelaide 0
WA : Blazincic, Hooker, Alagich, WA : Blazincic,Hooker,Slager,Slifkas,
Haniotis, Slager, Lazaridis, Haniotis (sent off 82), Andrioli,
Aloisi (Brazzale 37), Slifkas, Lazaridis, Alagich, Cardozo,
Cardozo (Kokkinoplitis 83), Iriarte,Ndongo-Keller(Brazzale 45)
Iriarte, Ndongo-Keller.
SU : Kalac, Popovic, M Babic, Moric,
SU : Kalac, Popovic, Stanton, M Babic, Kupresak, Stanton, Hristodoulou,
Kupresak, Zdrilic, Naumovski, Zdrilic, Petkovic (Naumovski 74),
Moric, Hristodoulou, Milicic, Milicic, Lamond (Jermen 79)
Lamond (Jermen 78).
[Well what a game. West Adelaide were] [Sydney United were leading on away ]
[running riot in the midfield with ] [goals and played much like it. Yes it]
[Aloisi calling the shots, but when ] [is true they always play like that ]
[he left injured the Sharks offence ] [but it is effective and nice play by ]
[was significantly curtailed. However] [Lamond and Moric helped Milicic to ]
[a Babic foul on the fleet ] [volley home the only goal. The Sharks]
[Ndongo-Keller brought captain Slager] [hit the post through Iriarte and ]
[to the spot. Just when United looked] [threw their troops forwards at the ]
[like losing a last second cross] [death. Haniotis was sent off for a ]
[found the top of Jermens lanky frame] [second bookable offence although the ]
[and Culina looked like a genius in ] [first yellow card was apparently ]
[replacing the dangerous but quiet ] [shown to him by mistake.]
[Lamond.]
Major Semi-Final
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
17/4 (1st leg) 23/4 (2nd leg)
Adelaide City 1 (Damien Mori 12 pk) Melbourne Knights 1 (Danny Tiatto 3)
Melbourne Knights 0 Adelaide City 2 (Sergio Melta 6)
(Craig Foster 55)
AC : Petkovic, Melta Ivanovic, Tobin AC : Petkovic, Ivanovic, Tobin, Melta,
Talladira (Gibson 77), Mori, Vidmar, Lozanovski, Mullen, Mori,
Hassell, Mullen, Lozanovski,Foster Foster (Yates 88), Hassell,
Yates (Mennillo 88) Talladira (Gibson 75).
MK : Juric, DeAmicis, Horvat, Silic, MK : Juric, Horvat, Buljubasic, Marth,
D Cervinski (Buljubasic 28), Tiatto, DeAmicis, Silic, Tiatto, Marucic,
Marth (Z Markovski 86), Pondeljak, D Cervinski (Lapsansky 45),
Lapsansky, Marusic, Spiteri Pondeljak, Spiteri.
[Woo Woo Woo! Go you Zebras :-) ] [I credited the goal to Sergio but it]
[A David Cervinski handball gave City] [was from 30 metres out and took a ]
[the chance to go ahead and despite ] [big deflection off Cervinski. Tiatto]
[some concerted Knights attack, ] [got the Knights off to a great start]
[including an 88th minute effort by] [but Adelaide City hit back straight ]
[Joe Spiteri, the Zebras held their] [away and looked far more composed ]
[lead. Also a Hassell goal was ] [and dangerous, of course thanks to ]
[disallowed and Mullen hit the post. ] [Australia's elimination at the World]
[Youth Cup Mark Viduka will be back ]
[to try to help the Knights their ]
[next game.]
Minor Semi-Final (26/4 - at Marconi Stadium, Sydney)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney United 1 - South Melbourne 3
(Mario Jermen 78) (Kevin Muscat 68 pk, 71)
(Ivan Kelic 82)
SU : Kalac, Stanton, Kupresak, Popovic, M Babic, Lamond, Petkovic, Moric,
Milicic (Jermen 36), Hristodoulou, Zdrilic
SM : Anastasiadis, Kuzmanovic, Muscat, Valkanis (Mangos 84), Lucchetta,
Panopoulos, Petersen, Polak, Trimboli, Kelic, Boutsianis (Awaritefe 65)
[Sydney United had lost the chance to to the table in their last regular
season game against Morwell. Now South Melbourne have accounted for not only
Morwell but also Sydney United, though it must be said that playing with
9 men Sydney United were never going to beat Souths. Velimir Kupresak was
sent off on the 68th minute for a tackle on Paul Trimboli in the area and
Muscat scored the resulting penalty. Muscat followed that up with another
goal three minutes later. Then Ivan Petkovic was marched for his second
bookable offence in the 76th minute. However the inspirational leadership
of Tony Popovic led United to pullone back, again via the head of Mario
Jermen before South Melbourne put an end to the Crows hopes by delivering
the killer blow. Credit to South Melbourne for coming good at the right
end of the season but United coach Branko Culina certainly had a point in
regard to the way this game was heavily influenced by the refereeing. He
went so far as to say "nine men just cannot beat thirteen".]
Preliminary Final (30/4 - at Olympic Park, Melbourne)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melbourne Knights 3 - South Melbourne 2
(Mark Viduka 27, 37, 53) (Con Boutsianis 44, 72)
MK : Juric, Horvat, DeAmicis, Marth, Buljubasic, Marucic (D Cervinski 86),
Silic, Lapsansky, Tiatto (sent off 13), Viduka, Pondeljak (Kovacevic 57)
SM : Anastasiadis, Kuzmanovic, Lucchetta, Valkanis (Anthopoulos 64),
Muscat, Polak, Petersen, Panopoulos (Awaritefe 52), Boutsianis,
Trimboli, Kelic
[For a start it was _pissing_ down in Melbourne, I've seen games cancelled
for less. Still the game went on and it was a beauty. Alright Mirko Bazic
was unhappy about it but his side won thanks to the talents of Mark Viduka
but not before the Knights suffered a setback in the send off of Danny
Tiatto. His tackle was mistimed and a little high, though you can find
some excuse for his action in the conditions. It not only cost Tiatto the
rest of the game or the grand final too. By the way Tiatto is reportedly
the target of a Marconi recruitment drive...cool >:-). With a shorthanded
team the most likely goalscoring situation is a set play and so it was that
a Marucic free kick landed neatly on Viduka's head and came to rest in
Souths net. It was the industrious Marucic who was involved again as Viduka
came in to lift the ball over the diving keeper for a 2-0 lead which was
quickly cut back to 2-1 by Boutsianis at the far post from a Kelic cross.
It did not take Viduka long to regain the 2 goal lead and his hattrick with
another Marucic cross which a sliding Viduka reached after a sliding
Pondeljak had missed it. The bringing on of Awaritefe was a positive for
Souths but it wasn't enough. Boutsianis scored once more but it was less
his shot and more the scrambling Juric which caused the ball to cross the
line. In the end the more deserving team won although the late yellow card
for Lubomir Lapsansky made sure he too missed the Grand Final.]
Grand Final (7/5 - at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adelaide City 0 - Melbourne Knights 2
(Andrew Marth 36)
(Joe Spiteri 41)
AC : Petkovic, Melta, Vidmar, Ivanovic, Tobin, Talladira (Yates 68), Mori,
Hassell, Mullen, Lozanovski (Gibson 43), Foster
MK : Juric, Buljubasic, de Amicis, Cervinski, Horvat, Marth, Silic,
Marucic (Grganovic 87), Viduka, Spiteri, Pondeljak (Kovacevic 64)
[I must say I'm surprised. The Knights have been consistent chokers for the
past 4 seasons and then they go to Adelaide where they are even more
abysmal than elsewhere and win. The game started very well, last seasons
Grand Final between these teams was deadly boring but here there were very
close calls at either end within the first 15 minutes and there was enterprise
shown by both sides. The much heralded Mark Viduka was kept relatively quiet
throughout, at least by his standards but this allowed players like Marucic,
Pondeljak and Spiteri some leeway. The game began to settle down and as the
Knights probed at the edge of the area a poor clearance allowed Marth to
bring the ball down and twist around from outside the area to shoot over
and beyond Jason Petkovic into the far corner. Helluva goal. With this
injection of all the Knights had been missing in previous Grand Final games
they soon took another leap towards the title when neat lead up work by
Viduka and Marucic allowed Spiteri a simple tap in at the near post. Adelaide
City became increasingly frustrated and despite making positional changes and
hitting the crossbar from a Hassell shot the score was not disturbed any
further. The Melbourne Knights are champions of Australia for the 1994-95
season.]