Written by Roy Hay.
National Youth League Round 17 Southern Division Friday 23 January 1998 Bulleen Inter Kings 5 Heidelberg United 1 (Mimo Orlando 2, Michael Gullino 2, (Nick Papoutsis) Andrew Italiano) Saturday 24 January 1998 Carlton 2 Albury Wodonga 1 (Cameron Pino, Jovanco Novacevski) (Quentin O'Grady) Sunday 25 January 1998 Gippsland Falcons 4 Bentleigh Greens 2 (Adrian Savage, Marcus Wallace, (George Gerolemou, Chris John McEvoy, Hugo Giminez) Christou) Wednesday 28 January 1998 Altona Magic VIS (6.30 pm, Paisley Park) () () South Melbourne v Bye Bye v Melbourne Knights Bye v South Melbourne Rockets Northern Division Saturday 24 January 1998 UTS Olympic Colts 2 Newcastle Breakers 2 () (Chad Mansley, Tony Bauer) Sunday 25 January 1998 Sydney United 2 A I S 1 (Robert Angievski 2) (Chris Tanchevski) Wollongong City 2 Sydney United Colts 1 (Denis Jurjevic, Chad Bishop) (Josip Moric) Marconi Fairfield Colts 4 A C T A S 3 (Mark Haggar 2, Peter Krljar, (Zamora, Wingell, Matthew Michael Galluzzo) Valeri) Wednesday 28 January 1998 N S W I S UTS Olympic () () Bye v Marconi Fairfield Bye v Q A S League Ladders Southern Division Team P W D L F A Pts Melbourne Knights 14 12 0 2 51 15 36 Carlton 12 11 0 1 27 6 33 Gippsland Falcons 13 9 2 2 27 13 29 V I S 12 6 3 3 30 15 21 Bulleen Inter 13 6 2 5 23 19 20 Bentleigh Greens 14 4 2 8 16 30 14 Heidelberg United 13 4 2 7 15 31 14 Altona Magic 12 3 2 7 17 32 11 Albury Wodonga 13 3 1 9 15 20 10 South Melbourne 12 2 3 7 22 21 9 South Melbourne Rockets 12 1 1 10 11 52 4 Northern Division Team P W D L F A Pts A I S 14 10 2 2 59 12 32 Wollongong City 15 8 3 4 31 23 27 UTS Olympic 13 7 3 3 36 21 24 Q A S 14 6 4 4 32 18 22 Sydney United 14 5 6 3 37 27 21 Marconi Fairfield 14 6 2 6 23 27 20 Marconi Fairfield Colts 14 6 2 6 23 34 20 A C T A S 15 5 4 6 21 42 19 Newcastle Breakers 14 4 5 5 27 30 17 UTS Olympic Colts 15 3 3 9 22 48 12 Sydney United Colts 14 3 2 9 16 37 11 N S W I S 14 2 4 8 18 26 10 Leading goalscorers Southern Division Name Team Goals Zoran Petrevski VIS 12 Jovanco Novacevski Carlton 9 Adis Kablar Melbourne Knights 9 John Kalabric Melbourne Knights 8 Festim Zekiri Melbourne Knights 7 Northern Division Name Team Goals Mile Sterjovski AIS/Sydney United 22 Mark Hagger Marconi Fairfield Colts 16 Marc Bresciano AIS 9 Tony Krslovic Sydney United/Colts 8 Round 18 Southern Division Friday 30 January 1998 Bentleigh Greens v South Melbourne (6.30 pm, Kingston Heath) Sunday 1 February 1998 Albury Wodonga v Heidelberg United (4 pm, Diamond Park) Melbourne Knights v Altona Magic (3.30 pm, Knights Stadium) South Monday 2 February 1998 Bulleen Inter v Gippsland Falcons (7 pm, Wembley Park) Northern Division Friday 30 January 1998 Newcastle Breakers v Wollongong City (5 pm, Topper Stadium) Saturday 31 January 1998 Marconi Fairfield v N S W I S (5 pm, Valentine Park) AIS v Marconi Fairfield Colts (7 pm, AIS Soccer fields) QAS v Sydney United (4.30 pm, Suncorp Stadium) Sunday 1 February 1998 UTS Olympic v UTS Olympic Colts v (4 pm, Sydney Football Stadium) Sydney United Colts v Bye ACTAS v Bye National Youth League (Southern Division), 23-28 January 1998 by Roy Hay Buleen Inter Kings started Round 17 with a five-one win over Heidelberg United on Friday night. Michael Gulino started the ball rolling with a goal after only seven minutes and rounded off proceedings with his second with seven minutes left to play in a nice piece of symmetry. =20 Mimo Orlando also scored twice for Bulleen in 25 and 55 minutes and Andrew Italiano scored his goal after 29 minutes. The Bergers refused to buckle and Nick Papoutsis scored in 71 minutes to give his team some reward for its contribution to the game. Gippsland Falcons overcame Bentleigh Greens by four goals to two in Morwell. Adrian Savage opened with a goal for the Falcons in 16 minutes, but within seven minutes George Gerolemou had equalised for the Greens. Marcus Wallace restored the Falcons' lead in 32 minutes, and John McEvoy made it three in 37. The Greens got another goal back through Chris Christou just after the interval and it was not till the last four minutes that Hugo Giminez's goal made the Falcons safe. Carlton struggled to beat Albury Wodonga by two goals to one at Optus Oval. There were no goals until more than an hour had been played as the match see-sawed with both teams creating excellent chances. Then Cameron Pino made the breakthrough for Carlton after 65 minutes, but Quentin O'Grady equalised in 77 minutes. Jovanco Novacevski, with his ninth goal of the season grabbed the winner with ten minutes left. =20 There were two red cards, one to each side. The match between Altona Magic and the VIS will be played on Wednesday at Paisley Park at 6.30 pm. National Youth League (Northern Division), 24-28 January 1998 The round began in the North with a two-all draw between UTS Olympic Colts and Newcastle Breakers. Chad Mansley and Tony Bauer scored for Newcastle, but at the time of writing the Olympic Colts scorers were not available. Sydney United upset the AIS with a two-one win at Parramatta Stadium on Sunday. This was a highly charged and competitive affair and it took more than an hour for the deadlock to be broken as Robert Angievski got the first of his two goals for United. Chris Tanchevski, the former Newcastle striker, equalised two minutes later and the match was still finely balanced going into the last minute when Angievski popped up to score the winner. Wollongong City beat Sydney United Colts, also by two goals to one. Denis Jurjevic opened for the Wolves in 40 minutes followed by Chad Bishop in 62 minutes. Young Josip Moric got the consolation goal for the Colts four minutes into injury time. Marconi Fairfield Colts and the ACT Academy of Sport produced a seven goal thriller at Marconi Stadium, which was only decided in the last minute. One of the Zamora brothers scored for the ACT in 28 minutes and Peter Krljar equalised for the Colts in 42, only for Wingell to put the Academy in front again right on the interval. Mark Hagger scored the first of his two goals from the penalty spot after 62 minutes, then Mathew Valeri gave the Academy the lead once more in 73. Michael Galluzzo scored in 81 minutes to tie the scores again, but Hagger was not to be denied and with almost the last kick of the game he collected his sixteenth goal of the season and the winner for the Colts. The match between the New South Wales Institute of Sport and UTS Olympic will be played on Wednesday at Valentine Park at 7 pm. Roy Hay