1996/1997 Season Round 02 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (19/10/1996) Suncorp Stadium Referee : M Shield, Crowd : 4572
Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Glen Gwynne, Alan Hunter (Danny Wright 80), Gary Phillips, Frank Farina, Sean Cranney, Troy Cranney, Rod Brown, Mark Battistin, Andrew Brayshaw (Vedran Becirbegovic 62), Kasey Wehrman Goals : Brown 10, 61, 80, S Cranney 40, Phillips 65, Farina 90pk	6	-	1	Newcastle Breakers Liam Baker, Glen Sprod, Glen Moore, Robert Ironside, Troy Halpin, Gary Wilson (Evis Heath 73), Jason Bennett, Todd McManus (Craig Sharpley 73), Mark Wilson, Matt Austin, Liam McGuire (Scott Thomas 61) Goal : Sprod 24pk
What an ironic twist that a week after stuffing West Adelaide 6-1 the Breakers should suffer in the same way at the hands of Brisbane. Andrew Brayshaws handball in the area was the only reprieve for the Breakers as Rod Brown and his buddies made Breakers coach John Kosmina wonder whether letting Mike Gibson go was such a good idea. The player manager managed to score one himself when the keeper brought Farina down and the penalty was taken by Frankie himself.
Played (19/10/1996) Marconi Stadium Referee : D Crawford, Crowd : 6237
Marconi-Fairfield Bob Catlin, Robert Stanton, Matthew Bingley, Andrew Harper (Aaron Holst 67), Craig Foster, Andrew Ravanello, Dominic Longo, Zeljko 'Sean' Babic (Francis Awaritefe 46), Paul Souris (Bradley Maloney 78), Brendan Renaud, Vlado Zoric Goal : Bingley 90	1	-	1	Collingwood Warriors Frank Juric, Enrico Ceracchio, Carlo Talladira, Andrew Vlahos, Con Boutsianis, Kimon Taliadoros, Ernest Tapai, Goran Lozanovaki (Brian MacNicol 13), Dean Fak, George Jolevski (John Waddell 83), Alan Scott Goal : Brian MacNicol 55
You know sometimes you find yourself meeting the swimsuit calendar girls and they all want you. When they ask you to satisfy them you want to say "come here baby" but what your mouth actually says is "sorry, I'm gay". This is the sort of relationship Andrew Harper and the Warriors goal had. At least 3 times the goal was begging to be scored on in the first half... ...BEGGING. Andy missed everytime, well he hit the post at one stage but unlike other types of football you don't get a score for that. It was the Warriors who, though thoroughly outplayed made something of their chances. Marconi became flustered and then frantic. They pulled back a deserved but rather weak equaliser and in the dying minutes either side could have won it. Game of the week.
Played (20/10/1996) Lakeside Stadium Referee : B Panella, Crowd : 8668
South Mebourne Michael Petkovic, Nick Orlic, Alex Kuzmanovic, Jason Polak, Vaughan Coveny, Paul Trimboli, Warren Spink, Steve Iosifidis, David Clarkson (Steve Panopoulos 66), Robert Liparoti (George Goutzioulis 46), Fausto De Amicis Goal : Orlic 47	1	-	3	Sydney United Zeljko Kalac, Robert Trajkovski, Velimir Kupresak, Tony Popovic, Mark Babic, Robert Enes (Damir Cvetko 56), Kresimir Marusic (Mark Rudan 82), Ante Moric, Ante Milicic, David Zdrilic, Paul Bilokapic Goals : Marusic 24, Zdrilic 37, 40
Well the Lakers have a nice stadium, a beautiful new logo, pretty good support, but when it comes to having players on deck they're still not quite there. The visitors from Sydney brought the tall timber at the back along and for some reason Souths wanted to feed long balls to the not-really-short-but-certainly-midget-in comparison-to-the-United-back-line Paul Trimboli. To his credit Trimboli got the ball over the line but had to push the 202cm Kalac out of the way to do it. The ref wasn't impressed. Somehow I think Souths fans might feel the same way.
Played (20/10/1996) Knights Park Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 3760
Melbourne Knights Vilson Knezevic, David Cervinski, Andrew Marth, Mark Silic, Lubomir Lapsansky, Oliver Pondeljak (Ante Deak 63), John Markovski,Ice Kutlesovski (Miho Trupkovic 90), Damian Vojtek, Tom Pondeljak, Ransford Banini Goal : Marth 43	1	-	0	Gippsland Falcons Jim Kourtis, Doug Marcina, Marcus Stergioupoulos, Steve Mangos, Nick Palamaras, Hugo Giminez (Billy Mitroulas 45 (sent off 93), Eddie Krncevic, Alex Duric (Tony Sekulic 72), Clayton Bell, Carlo Villani (Claudio Canosa 58), William Hastie
It took a goalmouth scramble to subdue the hardy but decidedly non-threatening Gippsland Falcons. However Frank Arok is a master coach and if he feels his side are on the improve then I can hardly argue with him. Certainly with lads like Clayton Bell in the side they can do better. Whether they will is anyone's guess. [NOTE : The official report lists no substitutions, daft buggers also failed to fill in the score and listed a red card that I was unaware of. I have included the red card but stick to my guns on subs]
Played (20/10/1996) Belmore Sports Ground Referee : C Diomis, Crowd : 7428
UTS Olympic George Bouhoutsos, David Barrett, Adam Ciantar, Scott Baillie, Milan Blagojevic, Peter Tsekenis, Walter Ardone, Alistair Edwards, Norman Tome (Elias Augerinos 82), Kris Trajanovski, Derek Poimer (Nick Meredith 57) Goal : Tome 9	1	-	0	Canberra Cosmos Anthony Giannasca, Paul Dee, Richard Watson (James Baxter 82), Mladen Rogic, Paul Wade, Peter Mazis (sent off 51), Norman Kelly, John Koch, Lachlan Armstrong, David Milin (Tomy Lemezina 77 (Peter Buljan 86)), Marko Perinovic
It's tough winning games wth 10 guys on your side and 11 on the other. Having spoken out of turn after about a quarter hour Peter Mazis then was carded again for a tackle and sent off. Even with him on the pitch Olympic looked like winning and it was Tony Giannasca who should take credit for making the score look more respectable than would be considered fair. Olympic now find themselves top of the table having played the poorer cousins of the league, Perth and Canberra.
Played (20/10/1996) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : E Brazzale, Crowd : 3527
West Adelaide Michael Harkness, Hamilton Thorp, Jamie Perin, Robert Slager, Robert Hooker, Richie Alagich, Alex Castro, Pablo Cardozo, Branko Milosevic (Corey Artone 29), Nathan Day, Jim Tsekinis Goals : G Naven 38og, Tsekinis 48, 71	3	-	1	Perth Glory Tom Maras, Vladimir Beretovac, Craig Naven, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Paul McVittie (Gavin Wilkinson 76), Slobodan Despotovski, Alan McKenzie (Paul Strudwick 31), Doug Ithier, Dale Wingell Goal : Strudwick 89
Having lost 6-1 the week before West Adelaide were not going to slip against the Glory. Not having seen or heard much of this game at all I can only offer some hope to Glory fans in what is clearly a team still getting used to one another and the National Competition. It would seem Collingwood managed to buy all the available players.
Played (20/10/1996) Brandon Park Referee : B Hugo, Crowd : 5348
Wollongong City Brett Hughes, Alvin Ceccoli, Gary van Egmond, Matthew Horsley, Sonny Sevin, Michael Reda, Tony Perinich, Neil Harlock, Nick Joseski (Sasho Dimoski 64), Anthony Surjan (Martin Bourke 89), Jason Connolly Goals : Horsley 87	1	-	0	Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Mark Yates, Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo, Bradley Hassell, Dino Mennillo, John Gibson, Michael Brooks, Joe Barbaro (Travis Dodd 81)
Jason Petkovic was largely responsible for allowing the home fans to leave very happy people. A long ball forward was fumbled by the keeper which allowed Dimoski and Horsley to combine for the late game winner. The result leaves both teams in unfamiliar areas of the ladder.