1997/1998 Season Round 24 Results written by Thomas Esamie
Played (28/03/1998) Marconi Stadium Referee : W Dade, Crowd : 5044
Marconi-Fairfield Ante Covic, Mark Babic, Luke Casserly, Darren McDonald, Brad Maloney, Zeljko Babic (Song Chul Yoon 77), Francis Awaritefe, Brendan Renaud, Pan Keun Kim, Vlado Zoric, Buddy Farah (Paul Souris 74) Goals : Kim 38, Maloney 49	2	-	0	Adelaide City Jason Petkovic, Bradley Armour, Mark Yates (Travis Dodd 75), Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Angelo Costanzo (Dino Mennillo 57), Damian Mori, Bradley Hassell, John Gibson, Kris Trajanovski (Michael Brooks 78), Scott Thomas
Sean Babic got Marconi off to a winning start but the referee spotted that the glance into the net from a short corner had infact come off Babic's hand and booked the would-be goalscorer for his attempted deception. Marconi did get the 1 goal lead at halftime thanks to the most outrageous goal by Pan Keun Kim. A nothing free kick was played to Kim who was barely out of the centre circle when the ball came to him, but he did have plenty of space since the free kick was expected to be pumped long into the City box. Kim strolled forward a few paces and ripped a no-holds barred piledriver at Petkovic's goal from between the centre circle and the box and the shot eluded the flying keeper. Kim then helped Maloney for goal 2 when he guided his long ball at the feet of Maloney who in turn beat the keeper with a neat shot.
Played (29/03/1998) Bob Jane Stadium Referee : M Shields, Crowd : 5670
South Melbourne Michael Petkovic, Steve Iosifidis, Fausto de Amicis, Nick Orlic, Steve Panopoulos (Robert Liparoti 85), Vaughan Coveny, Paul Trimboli, Con Boutsianis, Goran Lozanovski, John Anastasiadis (Bill Damianos 75), George Goutzioulis Goals : Boutsianis 13, Coveny 53, Anastasiadis 62	3	-	3	Perth Glory Anthony Franken, Gavin Wilkinson, Vinko Buljubasic, Gareth Naven, Scott Miller, Paul Strudwick (Paul McVittie 58), Slobodan Despotovski (Vas Kalogercos 60), James Afkos, Samsom Siasia, Scott Halpin, Anthony Carbone Goals : Kalogeracos 65, 70, 85
This is the sort of game promoters dream about but Perth are having nightmares because they have essentialy lost their chance to play in the finals. South Melbourne got away first with a Boutsianis special rippling the Perth net from a free kick. In truth Franken should have saved it but that is taking away from an exceptionally well taken free kick. It stayed 1-0 until halftime but Melbourne again scored from a spectacular effort when Coveny's run down the flank had left him without much support and he decided to cut inside and go for a curling, dipping shot which again made Franken look foolish. Melbourne looked to have the game sealed when Anastasiadis headed in a looping Boutsianis cross. However moments before Kalogeracos had come on the field and it was he who rescued Perth. McVitties long range drive was parried into Kalogeracos' path by Petkovic for Perth's first goal of the night. Then a throw in and a series of headers had Kalogeracos score another goal only minutes later before he completed his hat-trick quite by accident when, in trying the clear the ball, a Souths defender kicked the ball into Kalogercos and the ball rolled into the net.
Match report by Alan Clark
Played (29/03/1998) Belmore Sport Ground Referee : G Connolly, Crowd : 4038
UTS Olympic Bob Catlin, Adam Ciantar, Ante Juric, Scott Baillie, Norman Tome (Kimon Taliadoros 70), Derek Poimer, Brett Emerton (Eric Hristodoulou 79), Chris Kalantzis, Walter Ardone, Ben Willard, Leo Carle (Elias Augerinos 83) Goals : Poimer 9, 32, L Carle 74pk	3	-	0	Brisbane Strikers Clint Bolton, Glenn Gwynne, Chris Zoricich (Chay Hews 60), Craig Williams, Frank Farina (Wayne Srhoj 83), Rod Brown, Mark Battistin, Jeromy Harris, Andrew Packer, Andrew Harper, Gary Blackford (Sean Cranney 74)
Derek Poimer turned in a cross early in the game to set the tone for the rest of the game. The Brisbane net even letting Poimer's shot through, but it counted anyway. Leo Carle then helped Poimer to his and Olympics second goal when he floated a ball into the area from a short corner and found the obliging head of Poimer. Carle finished the job off himself, his first shot at goal stopped by the hand of Battistin but the resulting penalty was stroked home.
Played (29/03/1998) Falcons Park Referee : M Breeze, Crowd : 1477
Gippsland Falcons Bojo Jevdjevic, Nick Palamaras, Claudio Canosa, Manny Gotis, Doug Marcina, Mark Foy (John Hutchinson 55), Clayton Bell (Joe Tricarico 60), Levent Osman, Willie Hastie, Archie Thompson (Tony Sekulic 70), Brian MacNicol Goal : Osman 79	1	-	1	Sydney United Andrew Crews, David Barrett, Mark Rudan, Richard Plesa, Joe Vrkic, Stuart Munro, Jacob Burns, Paul Bilokapic, Robert Hooker, Abbas Saad, Mile Sterjovski Goal : Saad 54
A glut of chances were created by both sides in an entertaining game so it was a bit off-putting that the first goal came from an unmarked player at the far post from a corner. Saad just had to poke the ball into the net for the lead. However the Falcons were very much worth the point they got when Levent Osman jinked his way past some defenders and while his shot took a deflection off a United defender it seems unlikely that the shot was going to be stopped anyway. The only sad thing was that Archie Thompson, who was all over the park, didn't get a goal which he richly deserved.
Played (29/03/1998) Hindmarsh Stadium Referee : S Micallef, Crowd : 3100
Adelaide Sharks David Miller, Frank Tibaldi (Nathan Day 57), Alex Kuzmanovic, Branko Milosevic, Con Kokkinoplitis, Richie Alagich (sent off 82), Jose Iriarte (Adrian Iandorio 73), Alex Duric, John Cutillo (Corey Artone 46 (sent off 58)), Andrew Borghetto, Bill Misailidis	0	-	3	Carlton Dean Anastasiadis, Marcus Stergiopoulos, Sean Douglas, Con Anthopoulos, Kresimir Marusic (Marko Bresciano 68), Lubomir Lapsansky, Andrew Vlahos, Simon Colosimo (Adrian Cervinski 83), John Markovski, David Cervinski (David Della Rocca 63), Mark Atkinson Goals : Vlahos 13, 80, Markovski 86
Vlahos showed class and skill in controlling a long ball, eluding two defenders and then slotting the ball past the keeper on his own in the Sharks penalty area. Artone was sent off was the Sharks pressed hard to make up the deficit and Carlton exploited the resulting holes in the defence with Vlahos again scoring by putting the ball neatly beyond the kepeepers reach. Then Alagich was sent off and John Markovski, to the right of the goal. Received the ball and curled it inside the far post with the outside of his left foot to make the score 3-0.
Played (27/03/1998) Topper Stadium Referee : E Brazzale, Crowd : 2583
Newcastle Breakers Brad Swancott, Glen Sprod, Shane Pryce, Todd McManus, Peter Ritchie, Reece Tollenaere, Jason Bennett, Fouad Umlie, Matthew Lowe, Leo Langone, Eddy Bosnar	0	-	0	Melbourne Knights Peter Schwellinger, Ante Kovacevic, Ransford Banini, Tom Pondeljak, Alan Davidson, Ivan Kelic, Zeljko Susa, Zoran Markovski (Ice Kutlesovski 86), Damon Collins (Miho Trupkovic 46), Michael Bosevski, Joey Rajher
Peter Schwellinger was the busier of the two keepers but still Newcastle failed to make their chances count and with the loss of Zane to the new Northern Spirit team you have to wonder where their goals will come from next season.
Played (30/03/1998) Bruce Stadium Referee : G Leverton, Crowd : 2342
Canberra Cosmos Anthony Giannasca, Paul Dee, Andrew Roberts, Gordon Hunter, Norman Kelly, Peter Buljan, Toplica Popovich, Tom Haythornthwaite (Lindsay Wilson 46), Marko Perinovic, Damien Brown, Jong Su Kim (Harry James 55) Goal : Kim 44	1	-	3	Wollongong City Brett Hughes, Alvin Ceccoli (Noel Spencer 80), Robert Stanton, Matthew Horsley, Anthony Surjan, Sasho Dimoski, Scott Chipperfield, George Souris, Tony Perinich, Sebastian Sinozic (Jason Connolly 67), Kosta Salapasidis (Esala Masi 70) Goals : Ceccoli 26, Perinich 28, Dimoski 87
The Canberra keeper gave Perinich the chance to put a looping header into an unguarded net after Ceccoli had opened the Wollongong scoring. Kim gave Canberra some, small, hope which was finally snuffed out by Dimoski. Wollongong marching into the finals with play like this.