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2008 A-League Grand Final

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2008 A-League Grand Final
Event2007–08 A-League
Date24 February 2008
VenueSydney Football Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Man of the MatchAndrew Durante, Newcastle Jets
RefereeMark Shield
Attendance36,354
2007
2009
Newcastle Jets celebrating after their Grand Final victory.

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 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.

Route to the finals

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Match

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Summary

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The first half of the game ended in a draw with neither side scoring a goal, though each had good scoring opportunities. Gary van Egmond made a risky change to his side's starting formation, playing with a back three. In the 64th minute Joel Griffiths scored the only goal after Tony Vidmar slipped.

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.

Details

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Central Coast Mariners0–1Newcastle Jets
Reports[1] Bridge 64'
Attendance: 36,354
Referee: Mark Shield
Central Coast Mariners
Newcastle Jets
GK 20 Australia Danny Vukovic Red card 90+4'
MF 7 Australia John Hutchinson
MF 12 Australia Greg Owens downward-facing red arrow 69'
DF 13 Australia Tony Vidmar downward-facing red arrow 75'
DF 16 Australia Nigel Boogaard Yellow card 90'
DF 18 Australia Alex Wilkinson (c)
MF 19 Australia Adam Kwasnik downward-facing red arrow 69'
FW 22 Australia Sasho Petrovski
MF 23 Australia Mile Jedinak Yellow card 12'
FW 25 Australia John Aloisi Yellow card 90+5'
DF 26 Australia Alvin Ceccoli
Substitutes:
GK 1 Australia Matthew Trott
FW 2 Australia Matt Simon upward-facing green arrow 75'
MF 6 Germany André Gumprecht upward-facing green arrow 69'
MF 10 Australia Tom Pondeljak upward-facing green arrow 69'
DF 15 Australia Andrew Clark
Manager:
Scotland Lawrie McKinna
GK 1 Australia Ante Čović
DF 2 Australia Adam Griffiths Yellow card 11'
DF 3 Australia Jade North (c)
MF 5 Australia Stuart Musialik
DF 6 Australia Andrew Durante
MF 8 Australia Matt Thompson downward-facing red arrow 76'
FW 9 Australia Joel Griffiths Yellow card 37'
DF 11 Australia Tarek Elrich
DF 13 Australia Adam D'Apuzzo
FW 19 Australia Mark Bridge 64' downward-facing red arrow 73'
MF 28 South Korea Song Jin-Hyung downward-facing red arrow 90+3'
Substitutes:
GK 20 Australia Ben Kennedy
MF 10 Brazil Denni upward-facing green arrow 90+3'
MF 18 Australia Noel Spencer
MF 22 Australia Jason Hoffman upward-facing green arrow 76'
MF 25 Australia James Holland upward-facing green arrow 73'
Manager:
Australia Gary van Egmond

Joe Marston Medal:
Andrew Durante (Newcastle Jets)

Assistant referees:
Ben Wilson
Nathan Gibson
Fourth official:
Matthew Breeze

Match rules

A-League
2008 Champions
Australia
Newcastle Jets
First Title

Statistics

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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

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References

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  1. ^ "2008 A-League Grand Final". KEEPUP. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
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