1998–99 Northern Spirit FC season

Northern Spirit
1998–99 season
National Soccer League	5th
NSL Finals series	Elimination-finals
Highest home attendance	18,985 vs. Sydney Olympic; (9 October 1998); National Soccer League
Lowest home attendance	8,328 vs. Carlton; (14 February 1999); National Soccer League
Average home league attendance	14,632
Biggest win	4–0; vs. Marconi Fairfield; (15 January 1999); National Soccer League
Biggest defeat	1–5; vs. Brisbane Strikers; (6 February 1999); National Soccer League

The 1998–99 season was the first season in the history of Northern Spirit (now North West Sydney Spirit). It was also the first season in the National Soccer League. Northern Spirit finished 5th in their National Soccer League season, and were eliminated in the NSL Finals series elimination-final first round by Marconi Fairfield.

Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	AUS	Graham Arnold
—	MF	AUS	Paul Bilokapic
—	MF	AUS	Matthew Bingley
—	DF	AUS	Eddy Bosnar
—	DF	AUS	Luke Casserly
—	MF	AUS	Troy Cranney
—	MF	ENG	Ian Crook
—	DF	AUS	Michael Cunico
—	MF	AUS	Robert Enes
—	MF	AUS	Anthony Faria
—	MF	AUS	Paul Foster
—	GK	AUS	Paul Henderson
—	MF	AUS	Matthew Langdon


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	CRO	Kresimir Marusic
—	MF	AUS	Gabriel Mendez
—	DF	ENG	Phil Moss
—	MF	AUS	Adem Poric
—	DF	AUS	Nick Purdue
—	DF	AUS	Marko Rudan
—	DF	AUS	Robbie Slater
—	MF	AUS	Adam Snyder
—	MF	AUS	Jack Sobczyk
—	MF	AUS	James Stubbs-Mills
—	FW	AUS	Daniel Watkins
—	DF	AUS	Paul Wearne
—	FW	AUS	Clayton Zane

Transfers

Transfers in

No.	Position	Player	Transferred from	Date	Ref
—	FW	Graham Arnold	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	July 1998	^[1]
—	MF	Paul Bilokapic	Sydney United		^[1]
—	DF	Eddy Bosnar	Newcastle Breakers		^[1]
—	DF	Luke Casserly	Marconi Fairfield		^[1]
—	MF	Troy Cranney	Brisbane Strikers		^[1]
—	DF	Michael Cunico	FFA Centre of Excellence		^[1]
—	MF	Robert Enes	Portsmouth		^[1]
—	MF	Anthony Faria	Blacktown City		^[1]
—	DF	Adam Griffiths	Sutherland Sharks		^[1]
—	GK	Paul Henderson	Sutherland Sharks		^[1]
—	MF	Kresimir Marusic	Carlton		^[1]
—	MF	Gabriel Mendez	Parramatta Eagles		^[1]
—	DF	Phil Moss	Eastern Suburbs		^[1]
—	FW	Scott Ollerenshaw	Negeri Sembilan		^[1]
—	FW	Tony Perinich	Wollongong Wolves		^[1]
—	GK	Josh Perosh	Sydney United		^[1]
—	DF	Nick Purdue	Genk		^[1]
—	DF	Marko Rudan	Sydney United		^[1]
—	MF	Robbie Slater	Wolverhampton Wanderers		^[1]
—	MF	Jacek Sobczyk	Blacktown City		^[1]
—	FW	Clayton Zane	Newcastle Breakers		^[1]
—	MF	James Stubbs-Millis	Ryde City	September 1998	^[1]
—	FW	Paul Foster	Double Flower	September 1998	^[1]
—	MF	Matthew Bingley	JEF United Chiba	November 1998	^[1]
—	MF	Adem Poric	Sydney Olympic	December 1998	^[1]

Transfers out

No.	Position	Player	Transferred to	Date	Ref
—	DF	Nick Purdue	Canberra Cosmos	December 1998	^[1]
—	DF	Eddy Bosnar	Hurstville Zagreb	April 1999	^[1]
—	MF	James Stubbs-Mills	Ryde City		^[1]
—	DF	Paul Wearne	Manly Warringah Dolphins		^[1]

Competitions

Overview

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
National Soccer League	9 October 1998	25 April 1999	Matchday 1	5th	28	14	4	10	36	35	+1	050.00
National Soccer League Finals series	30 April 1999	9 May 1999	Elimination-finals	Elimination-finals	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Total					30	14	5	11	37	37	+0	046.67

Last updated: complete
Source: Competitions

National Soccer League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sydney United	28	18	4	6	53	33	+20	58	Qualification for the Finals series
2	South Melbourne (C)	28	17	6	5	50	26	+24	57	Qualification for the Finals series and the Oceania Club Championship
3	Perth Glory	28	16	5	7	62	37	+25	53	Qualification for the Finals series
4	Marconi Fairfield	28	15	3	10	53	47	+6	48
5	Northern Spirit	28	14	4	10	36	35	+1	46
6	Adelaide City	28	13	6	9	39	26	+13	45
7	Sydney Olympic	28	12	7	9	46	36	+10	43
8	Newcastle Breakers	28	11	7	10	29	33	−4	40
9	Brisbane Strikers	28	11	6	11	41	47	−6	39
10	Wollongong Wolves	28	8	8	12	45	52	−7	32
11	Carlton	28	9	4	15	47	47	0	31
12	Melbourne Knights	28	8	5	15	32	43	−11	29
13	West Adelaide	28	7	6	15	36	46	−10	27
14	Gippsland Falcons	28	5	10	13	17	44	−27	25
15	Canberra Cosmos	28	4	3	21	21	55	−34	15

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Results summary


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
28	14	4	10	36	35	+1	46	9	2	3	19	10	+9	5	2	7	17	25	−8

Source: worldfootball.net

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Ground	H	A	A	H	H	A	B	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	B	H	H	A	H	A	A
Result	L	L	W	W	W	L	✖	D	L	W	L	W	W	D	W	W	W	L	L	W	W	L	W	✖	L	W	D	W	D	L
Position	14	15	12	8	5	7	9	9	9	9	10	9	8	8	8	6	4	4	5	5	4	5	4	5	6	4	5	4	4	5

Source: worldfootball.net
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

9 October 1998 1	Northern Spirit	0–2	Sydney Olympic	Sydney
		Report	Kalantzis 52' Cardozo 56'	Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 18,985 Referee: Simon Micallef

18 October 1998 2	Perth Glory	2–0	Northern Spirit	Perth
	Strudwick 57' Markovski 78'	Report		Stadium: Perth Oval Attendance: 17,580 Referee: Eugene Brazzale

25 October 1998 3	Carlton	1–2	Northern Spirit	Melbourne
	Bresciano 10'	Report	Rudan 16', 90+'	Stadium: Optus Oval Attendance: 4,209 Referee: Brett Hugo

30 October 1998 4	Northern Spirit	2–1	Melbourne Knights	Sydney
	Marusic 26' Watkins 83'	Report	Karl 75'	Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 13,654 Referee: Mark Shield

6 November 1998 5	Northern Spirit	1–0	Wollongong City	Sydney
	Slater 49'	Report		Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 14,818 Referee: Brett Hugo

15 November 1998 6	Adelaide City	2–0	Northern Spirit	Adelaide
	Mennillo 47' Ki Kim 73'	Report		Stadium: Hindmarsh Stadium Attendance: 4,726 Referee: Louis Prospero

27 November 1998 8	Northern Spirit	1–1	Brisbane Strikers	Sydney
	Marusic 14'	Report	Hews 66'	Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 15,862 Referee: Gerry Connolly

6 December 1998 9	Sydney United	1–0	Northern Spirit	Sydney
	Sterjovski 39'	Report		Stadium: Edensor Park Attendance: 6,236 Referee: Simon Micallef

14 December 1998 10	Canberra Cosmos	0–1	Northern Spirit	Canberra
		Report	Bilokapic 56' (pen.)	Stadium: Bruce Stadium Attendance: 1,704 Referee: Greg Leverton

20 December 1998 11	South Melbourne	2–0	Northern Spirit	Melbourne
	Curcija 31', 54' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Bob Jane Stadium Attendance: 6,206 Referee: Eddie Lennie

27 December 1998 12	Northern Spirit	1–0	Gippsland Falcons	Sydney
	Marusic 82'	Report		Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 10,376 Referee: David Dwight

3 January 1999 13	Adelaide Sharks	2–3	Northern Spirit	Adelaide
	Poimer 32' Gibson 89'	Report	Crook 60' Zane 83' Marusic 85'	Stadium: Hindmarsh Stadium Attendance: 2,809 Referee: Sam Hasic

8 January 1999 14	Northern Spirit	0–0	Newcastle Breakers	Sydney
		Report		Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 13,206 Referee: Jeff Tippett

15 January 1999 15	Northern Spirit	4–0	Marconi Fairfield	Sydney
	Bilokapic 23' Slater 28' Marusic 40' Watkins 85'	Report		Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 17,507 Referee: Eugene Brazzale

24 January 1999 16	Sydney Olympic	2–3	Northern Spirit	Sydney
	Cardozo 43', 87'	Report	Slater 9', 29' Enes 54'	Stadium: Belmore Sports Ground Attendance: 9,151 Referee: Simon Micallef

26 January 1999 17	Northern Spirit	1–0	Perth Glory	Sydney
	Cunico 73'	Report		Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 17,722 Referee: Mark Shield

29 January 1999 18	Northern Spirit	1–2	Sydney United	Sydney
	Marusic 68'	Report	Burns 44', 83'	Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 17,024 Referee: Gerry Connolly

6 February 1999 19	Brisbane Strikers	5–1	Northern Spirit	Brisbane
	Tollenaere 34' Zoricich 60' Laybutt 61' Meredith 63' Hughes 69'	Report	Arnold 85'	Stadium: Suncorp Stadium Attendance: 5,436 Referee: Eddie Lennie

14 February 1999 20	Northern Spirit	3–1	Carlton	Sydney
	Arnold 45' Slater 58' Marusic 65'	Report	Lapsansky 19'	Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 8,328 Referee: Simon Micallef

20 February 1999 21	Melbourne Knights	2–3	Northern Spirit	Melbourne
	Kelic 38' Kutlesovski 77'	Report	Watkins 33' Arnold 47' Slater 77'	Stadium: Knights Stadium Attendance: 3,728 Referee: Louis Prospero

28 February 1999 22	Wollongong City	3–2	Northern Spirit	Wollongong
	Surjan 9', 11', 51'	Report	Slater 22' Bingley 66'	Stadium: Brandon Park Attendance: 5,679 Referee: Brett Hugo

5 March 1999 23	Northern Spirit	1–0	Adelaide City	Sydney
	Zane 29'	Report		Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 15,104 Referee: Eddie Lennie

19 March 1999 25	Northern Spirit	1–2	Canberra Cosmos	Sydney
	Zane 21'	Report	Magnacca 29' de Jesus 72'	Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 10,482 Referee: Eddie Lennie

26 March 1999 26	Northern Spirit	1–0	South Melbourne	Sydney
	Marusic 10'	Report		Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 16,543 Referee: Mark Shield

4 April 1999 27	Gippsland Falcons	1–1	Northern Spirit	Morwell
	Hastie 61'	Report	Arnold 43'	Stadium: Mobil Park Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Jane Blaney

9 April 1999 28	Northern Spirit	2–1	Adelaide Sharks	Sydney
	Crook 1' Casserly 34'	Report	Artone 27'	Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 15,246 Referee: Mark Shield

16 April 1999 29	Newcastle Breakers	1–1	Northern Spirit	Newcastle
	Haythornthwaite 67'	Report	Bilokapic 59' (pen.)	Stadium: Breakers Stadium Attendance: 5,015 Referee: Matthew Breeze

25 April 1999 30	Marconi Fairfield	1–0	Northern Spirit	Sydney
	Awaritefe 30'	Report		Stadium: Marconi Stadium Attendance: 10,117 Referee: Gerry Connolly

Finals series

30 April 1999 Elimination-finals 1st Leg	Northern Spirit	0–0	Marconi Fairfield	Sydney
		Report		Stadium: North Sydney Oval Attendance: 17,246 Referee: Eugene Brazzale

9 May 1999 Elimination-finals 2nd Leg	Marconi Fairfield	2–1	Northern Spirit	Sydney
	Smith 45' Babic 47'	Report	Arnold 81'	Stadium: Marconi Stadium Attendance: 11,319 Referee: Mark Shield

Statistics

Appearances and goals

Players with no appearances not included in the list.^[2]^[3]

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	National Soccer League		Total
No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
—	FW		Graham Arnold	26(2)	4	28	5
—	MF		Paul Bilokapic	26(1)	3	27	3
—	MF		Matthew Bingley	10	1	10	1
—	DF		Luke Casserly	25	1	25	1
—	MF		Troy Cranney	4	0	4	0
—	MF		Ian Crook	10(2)	2	12	2
—	DF		Michael Cunico	15(6)	1	21	1
—	MF		Robert Enes	19(1)	1	20	1
—	MF		Anthony Faria	1(2)	0	3	0
—	MF		Paul Foster	1(3)	0	4	0
—	GK		Paul Henderson	30	0	30	0
—	MF		Matthew Langdon	23	0	23	0
—	MF		Kresimir Marusic	27	8	27	8
—	MF		Gabriel Mendez	6(7)	0	13	0
—	DF		Phil Moss	13(8)	0	21	0
—	MF		Adem Poric	2	0	2	0
—	DF		Marko Rudan	24	2	24	2
—	DF		Robbie Slater	27	7	27	7
—	MF		Adam Snyder	0(2)	0	2	0
—	MF		Jack Sobczyk	1	0	1	0
—	FW		Daniel Watkins	12(11)	3	23	3
—	FW		Clayton Zane	22(5)	3	27	3
Player(s) transferred out but featured this season
—	DF		Eddy Bosnar	4(9)	0	13	0
—	DF		Nick Purdue	1	0	1	0
—	MF		James Stubbs-Mills	0(4)	0	4	0
—	DF		Paul Wearne	1(3)	0	4	0

Clean sheets

Rank	No.	Pos	Nat	Name	National Soccer League	Total
1	—	GK		Paul Henderson	9	9
Total					9	9

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac "NWS Spirit FC » Transfers 1998/1999". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
^ "NWS Spirit FC » Appearances A-League 1998/1999". aus.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
^ "Northern Spirit roster for 1998/99". OzFootball.net.

[transfers-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac "NWS Spirit FC » Transfers 1998/1999". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 3 October 2022.

[2] "NWS Spirit FC » Appearances A-League 1998/1999". aus.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 3 October 2022.

[3] "Northern Spirit roster for 1998/99". OzFootball.net.

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