2008 A-League Grand Final

2008 A-League Grand Final
Date 24 February 2008
Venue Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Man of the Match Andrew Durante, Newcastle Jets
Referee Mark Shield
Attendance 36,354
2007
2009

The 2008 A-League Grand Final took place at Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 24 February 2008. It was the first A-League Grand Final played at a neutral home ground, due to Bluetongue Stadium being deemed by the FFA to not have a sufficient capacity to hold the centrepiece of the A-League season. This move created a stir of controversy and was protested by the Central Coast Mariners, who won the right to host the match, but to no avail.

The first half of the game ended in a draw with neither sides scoring a goal, though each had good scoring opportunities. Gary van Egmond made a risky change to his sides starting formation, playing a with a back three. In the 64th minute Mark Bridge scored the only goal after Tony Vidmar slipped, gifting the ball to Bridge in the last quarter.

The game ended in controversy after Central Coast earned a corner late into extra time in the second half. As the ball was crossed into Newcastle's penalty area, it appeared to hit Newcastle player James Holland on the right arm, before it was cleared away. Mariners players immediately demanded a penalty, yet referee Mark Shield decided not to award one. The Mariners players, enraged, continued to scream at Shield, pressuring him for a penalty. Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic as a result of this frustration, hit Shields' arm away when the referee was penalizing one of Vukovic's teammates with a yellowcard. Shield then immediately awarded Vukovic with a red card. Vukovic would later be charged with striking a match official by the FFA, and was subsequently banned for 9 months, 3 of those months suspended. Due to this, Vukovic missed a significant portion of the next A-League season as well as the Olympic Games.

Contents

2007–08 Finals series

  Semifinals Preliminary final Grand final
    L1 L2    
    27 Jan & 10 Feb                        
1  Central Coast Mariners 0 3     24 February
2  Newcastle Jets 2 0     17 February          Central Coast Mariners 0
       Newcastle Jets (aet) 3      Newcastle Jets 1
  25 Jan & 8 Feb      Queensland Roar 2  
3  Sydney FC 0 0
4  Queensland Roar 0 2  

Match details

24 February 2008
17:00 AEDT
Central Coast Mariners 0–1 Newcastle Jets Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Attendance: 36,354
Referee: Mark Shield
Report Bridge  64'
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS:
GK 20 Danny Vukovic  90+4'
MF 7 John Hutchinson
MF 12 Greg Owens 69'
DF 13 Tony Vidmar 75'
DF 16 Nigel Boogaard 90'
DF 18 Alex Wilkinson (c)
MF 19 Adam Kwasnik 69'
FW 22 Sasho Petrovski
MF 23 Mile Jedinak 12'
FW 25 John Aloisi 90+5'
DF 26 Alvin Ceccoli
Substitutes:
GK 1 Matthew Trott
FW 2 Matt Simon 75'
MF 6 André Gumprecht 69'
MF 10 Tom Pondeljak 69'
DF 15 Andrew Clark
Manager:
Lawrie McKinna

Joe Marston Medal: Andrew Durante

Assistant Referees:
Ben Wilson
Nathan Gibson
Fourth Official:
Matthew Breeze

NEWCASTLE JETS:
GK 1 Ante Čović
DF 2 Adam Griffiths 11'
DF 3 Jade North (c)
MF 5 Stuart Musialik
DF 6 Andrew Durante
MF 8 Matt Thompson 76'
FW 9 Joel Griffiths 37'
DF 11 Tarek Elrich
DF 13 Adam D'Apuzzo
FW 19 Mark Bridge  64' 73'
MF 28 Song Jin-Hyung 90+3'
Substitutes:
GK 20 Ben Kennedy
MF 10 Denni 90+3'
MF 18 Noel Spencer
MF 22 Jason Hoffman 76'
MF 25 James Holland 73'
Manager:
Gary van Egmond
Hyundai A-League
2007–08 Winners
Newcastle Jets
First Title

Match statistics

Central Coast Newcastle
Attempts at goal 13 6
Attempts on target 1 3
Attempts off target 12 3
Attempts – Woodwork 0 0
Keeper saves 1 1
Ball possession 42% 58%
Corners 1 6
Fouls committed 18 15
Offsides 1 4
Yellow cards 3 2
Red cards 1 0

See also

External links