--- Strikers 506 ---

If the 1996/97 had been one of champagne football, goals galore, excitement and euphoria for the Brisbane Strikers and their supporters, the season that followed was, in comparison, one of tedium and frustration.

The Strikers went straight from having their most productive season in front of goal to having easily their worst ever, as they scored a mere 23 goals from 26 fixtures.  In fact, the 1997/98 Brisbane Strikers gave meaning and relevance to that ribald old favourite chant of football supporters that is normally directed at opposition teams (and often was, by Strikers fans):  “You couldn’t score in a brothel”.

Make no mistake about it, this was a team which made a total misnomer of the club’s name.  And the fact that they did so was squarely to blame for the defending champions plummeting to a finishing position of twelfth in the fourteen-team league.  It certainly was not down to poor defence - the 1997/98 team conceded exactly the same number of goals (40) from its regular season fixtures as the team that had won the championship.

In hindsight, the reasons for the turnaround in striking fortunes were partly the club’s own fault and partly down to bad luck.  Let’s deal with the “club’s own fault” stuff first.

Having won the championship with a squad that contained a number of ageing players and promising youngsters (and not too many in-between), the Strikers failed to compensate for the departure during the off-season, or the subsequent capitulation to the ravages of time, of several of its older players.  The departures of Alan Hunter and Danny Wright, for instance, were not compensated for in the transfer market and were thus more keenly felt than they ought to have been.   Meanwhile, Rod Brown was probably a season or two past his best and player-coach Frank Farina gradually succumbed to a long-term knee injury and restricted himself mainly to coaching.  The outcome of all this was that much of the experience and competitive drive of the team simply disappeared or faded away.

The one major signing the club allowed itself during the off-season was former Marconi forward Andy Harper, who was also probably past his best.  Harper just never got going and he endured a wretched season in the Brisbane forward line which would not have been made any easier by being saddled with the captaincy of a group of players he had never previously played with or got to know.

But there was also misfortune.  A horrendous injury toll, which simply refused to shorten as the season wore on and came to a close, exacerbated the situation manufactured by the mistake-prone decision making of the club’s administrators.  Key players such as Glen Gwynne, Kasey Wehrman and Sean Cranney spent long portions of the season on the treatment table instead of on the pitch.  Suddenly, instead of watching a well-oiled unit that was creating and converting chances with regularity and ease, supporters saw a dysfunctional and laboured group of players who, while they toiled hard, merely huffed and puffed with a collective bout of constipation around the opposition’s penalty area.

Oddly enough, for the fourth time in the Strikers’ brief history, the club’s Golden Boot winner for the season managed only six goals.  That was Rod Brown who, in an ironic twist, managed to become the NSL’s highest-ever goal scorer during this most modest of seasons for both himself and his club.  Brown’s successful penalty kick in a 2-0 victory over West Adelaide in December 1997 was followed by the spectacle of the red-haired striker peeling off his yellow and blue playing shirt to reveal a white t-shirt with the number “134” plastered across the front - the number of goals he had now scored to eclipse John Kosmina’s previous mark. Brown was promptly booked for his celebration as the tone of the Strikers’ season was resumed without delay.

Behind Brown’s six goals, there wasn’t much by way of contributions from the rest of his team.  Troy Cranney managed three from midfield, while two were contributed by Steve Laybutt (a central defender), Nick Meredith (midfield), Jeremy Harris (midfield) and Harper.  Lone contributions were registered by Sean Cranney, Wayne Knipe, Farina, Gwynne and Danny Invincibile.  The latter, in scoring his goal in one of his few appearances for the club before heading overseas, thus joined the Strikers’ One Hit Wonders club.

All-in-all with results poor, the club’s administration seemingly locked in a holding pattern bordering on inertia, and home crowds dwindling, the 1997/98 season was one that all involved with the club would prefer to forget.  But conversely and sadly, having won both the grand final and the goodwill of an entire city the season before, it was one they will always remember as a golden opportunity lost. 

Goals Scored By the Brisbane Strikers - 1997/98 season

v Wollongong Wolves (WIN Stadium) 10-Oct (W1-0)

240. Troy Cranney (14')

v Sydney United (Parramatta Stadium) 24-Oct (L1-2)

241. Sean Cranney (16')

v Canberra Cosmos (Seiffert Oval) 15-Nov (L1-2)

242. Wayne Knipe (83')

v Melbourne Knights (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 22-Nov (L1-2)

243. Stephen Laybutt (11')

v Newcastle Breakers (Breakers Stadium) 28-Nov (W2-1)

244. Rod Brown (28')
245. Frank Farina (57')

v Sydney Olympic (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 06-Dec (W1-0)

246. Rod Brown (39')

v West Adelaide (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 20-Dec (W2-0)

247. Andrew Harper (35' pen)
248. Rod Brown (75' pen)

v Morwell Falcons (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 03-Jan (L1-2)

249. Rod Brown (46')

v South Melbourne (Bob Jane Stadium) 11-Jan (L1-5)

250. Rod Brown (27')

v Wollongong Wolves (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 17-Jan (W2-1)

251. Troy Cranney (2')
252. own goal (77')

v Perth Glory (Members Equity Stadium) 25-Jan (W3-1)

253. Nick Meredith (22')
254. Stephen Laybutt (62')
255. Troy Cranney (89')

v Carlton (Princes Park) 21-Feb (D1-1)

256. Nick Meredith (55')

v Adelaide City Force (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 28-Feb (D2-2)

257. Jeromy Harris (26')
258. Jeromy Harris (87')

v Newcastle Breakers (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 07-Mar (D1-1)

259. Andrew Harper (63')

v Canberra Cosmos (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 21-Mar (D2-2)

260. Rod Brown (21')
261. Glenn Gwynne (45')

v West Adelaide (Hindmarsh Stadium) 12-Apr (L1-2)

262. Danny Invincibile (78')

 

1997/98 Season Final Table

3pts/win, 1pt/draw

Note : The top six teams after the regular season will enter a playoff to decide the championship.

Season number six for the Brisbane Strikers produced their second consecutive record number of goals (59) and, more importantly, the title of NSL Champions.  The Strikers went four goals better than the previous season (in which they played six more games), courtesy of the four goals they scored in the finals series.

For those who were looking for them, there were signs very early in the season that the major impediment to the Strikers’ 1995/96 campaign - their inability to reproduce their excellent home form on the road - was going to be put right.  A 0-0 draw away to Adelaide City in the first round finished with the Strikers pushing forward with urgency and chasing a win where previously they would have been happy to settle for a draw.  The next away game saw them emerge with a 2-1 win over South Melbourne after winning two consecutive home games, and the mood for the campaign was set.  Over the course of the season the Strikers managed to score 20 goals for 20 points away from home, while they remained as solid as ever, with 39 goals and 35 points from clashes at Suncorp-Metway Stadium.

Frank Farina and Rod Brown shared the top goal scorer honours, with twelve apiece.  Farina was markedly less effective as a goal scorer than in the the previous season, as knee and back injuries took their toll on his pace and mobility.  But his influence on the team was more pronounced, as he took on the role of player-coach after the departure of Bruce Stowell.

Farina’s reduced haul was compensated by strong contributions from a number of other players.  Youngster Wayne Knipe scored six, including the all-important late goal in the away leg of the major semi-final against Sydney United which gave the Strikers the right to host the Grand Final at home.  Mark Battistin, by now a central defender, also managed six and earned himself a reputation as a very effective striker of the dead ball as he successfully converted two penalty kicks and at least a couple of indirect free kicks. 

Troy Cranney had his most productive season as far as the score sheet was concerned, also bagging six.  But perhaps more important than this simple statistic was the context and style in which two of them were scored.  By Round 20 the Strikers were enduring a run of stuttering results as a lengthening injuries list threatened to derail their charge towards the finals.  In a game against the Marconi Stallions at Suncorp-Metway Stadium the Strikers were missing the services of Hunter, Farina and Kasey Wehrman, among others, and were 1-0 down against a strong team when Cranney collected the ball inside his own half and ran half the length of the pitch, beating two defenders, before beating the Marconi goalkeeper at his near post to set the Strikers on their way to a crucial 2-1 victory. 

A few weeks later, as the team’s push for a top-two position lay in the balance, the Strikers visited Perth Glory, who had thrashed them 5-1 in Brisbane.  Early in the match in Perth, Cranney produced another goal out of the top draw - a thunderbolt despatched from all of thirty-five metres after the home side had cleared a corner kick.  That goal settled the Strikers’ nerves and set them up for a priceless 2-0 win.  Both goals were pivotal moments in the season.  Had either of them been scored on the playing fields of Europe for a famous club they would have been written up as unforgettable.

Other goals were scored by Alan Hunter (five, in what was to be his last season for the Strikers), as he maintained a proud record of having scored in every one of the six seasons he played for the club; Wehrman (four); Sean Cranney (two); and one from each of Danny Wright, Gary Phillips, Andy Brayshaw and Chris Slater.  Two own goals also contributed to the total.

The season was also notable for being the one which was most productive for the Strikers from the penalty spot, with eight spot kicks finding the back of the net.  One of those penalties (taken by Hunter), was the Strikers’ 200th goal.

But surely the two most memorable goals of all, for any Strikers supporter, were the goals scored on 25 May, 1997.  A simple toe-poke from six yards by Frank Farina ignited a Grand Final crowd of 40,000, and then Rod Brown’s clinical, inside-of-the-foot, one-touch finish as he galloped on to a Sean Cranney square-ball later in the second half, gave Brisbane the perfect result on the greatest day that club football has ever enjoyed in this city.  

Goals Scored By the Brisbane Strikers - 1996/97 season

v Newcastle Breakers (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 19-Oct (W6-1)

181. Rod Brown (10')
182. own goal (39')
183. Rod Brown (61')
184. Gary Phillips (65')
185. Rod Brown (80')
186. Frank Farina (90' pen)

v Wollongong Wolves (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 25-Oct (W2-1)

187. Frank Farina (45')
188. Kasey Wehrman (62')

v South Melbourne (Bob Jane Stadium) 03-Nov (W2-1)

189. Alan Hunter (14' pen)
190. Kasey Wehrman (66')

v Melbourne Knights (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 09-Nov (W2-1)

191. Frank Farina (28')
192. Wayne Knipe (86')

v Marconi Stallions (Marconi Stadium) 16-Nov (W1-0)

193. Rod Brown (23')

v Sydney Olympic (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 23-Nov (W4-1)

194. Mark Battistin (44')
195. Troy Cranney (63')
196. Rod Brown (71')
197. Andrew Brayshaw (88')

v Perth Glory (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 07-Dec (L1-5)

198. Mark Battistin (87')

v Canberra Cosmos (Bruce Stadium) 14-Dec (W4-1)

199. Alan Hunter (3' pen)
200. Alan Hunter (49' pen)
201. Frank Farina (60')
202. Rod Brown (65')

v Collingwood Warriors (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 21-Dec (W5-2)

203. Frank Farina (6')
204. Mark Battistin (24')
205. Frank Farina (49')
206. Chris Slater (79')
207. Kasey Wehrman (83')

v Sydney United (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 04-Jan (W3-0)

208. Rod Brown (5')
209. Frank Farina (32')
210. Mark Battistin (89')

v Adelaide City Force (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 01-Feb (L1-3)

211. Mark Battistin (71' pen)

v Newcastle Breakers (Breakers Stadium) 07-Feb (L1-3)

212. Rod Brown (48')

v Wollongong Wolves (Brandon Park) 14-Feb (W4-0)

213. Troy Cranney (26')
214. Frank Farina (44')
215. Rod Brown (53')
216. Troy Cranney (60')

v South Melbourne (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 22-Feb (L2-3)

217. own goal (72')
218. Danny Wright (77')

v Marconi Stallions (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 08-Mar (W2-1)

219. Troy Cranney (55')
220. Mark Battistin (88' pen)

v Sydney Olympic (Belmore Sports Ground) 15-Mar (L3-5)

221. Wayne Knipe (10')
222. Frank Farina (68' pen)
223. Wayne Knipe (86')

v West Adelaide (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 22-Mar (W3-2)

224. Troy Cranney (32')
225. Rod Brown (33')
226. Wayne Knipe (44')

v Perth Glory (Members Equity Stadium) 30-Mar (W2-0)

227. Troy Cranney (13')
228. Kasey Wehrman (89')

v Canberra Cosmos (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 05-Apr (W3-1)

229. Frank Farina (40')
230. Alan Hunter (58')
231. Frank Farina (84')

v Collingwood Warriors (Olympic Park) 13-Apr (W2-0)

232. Wayne Knipe (69')
233. Rod Brown (75')

v Morwell Falcons (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 20-Apr (L2-3)

234. Alan Hunter (60' pen)
235. Sean Cranney (70')

v Sydney United (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 03-May (W1-0) major semi final

236. Sean Cranney (63')

v Sydney United (Parramatta Stadium) 11-May (L1-2) major semi final

237. Wayne Knipe (77')

Grand Final  

v Sydney United (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 25-May (W2-0)

238. Frank Farina (47')
239. Rod Brown (68')

1996/97 Season Final Table

3pts/win, 1pt/draw
Note : The top six teams after the regular season will enter a playoff to decide the championship.

* Our thanks to Andrew Howe and the OzFootball website for the statistics used in today’s installment.   

The improvement in goal scoring potency that emerged as a trickle from the Brisbane Strikers in 1994/95 at last became a torrent in 1995/96 as the club smashed its previous best for a season by a massive 21 goals, scoring 55 in total on its way to finishing fourth on the NSL table and participating in the finals play-offs for the first time.

The ingredient that made all the difference that season had a name.  It was Frank Farina.  Queensland football’s favourite son had been tempted back to the NSL after a highly successful career in Europe, and he was not back for a holiday.  Still only thirty-one years old, Farina had a lot left to give on the playing field and it was apparent from very early on in his stint with his new club that he intended to give it all.

Farina scored 20 goals that season - more than twice as many as the previous highest season total by any Brisbane Strikers player - and some of them, to use a cliché, were worth the admittance fee in themselves.  But it was not simply by virtue of propelling the ball into the opposition’s net that Farina demonstrated his worth to the side.  Farina was simply a class act whose work rate, speed, enthusiasm and experience soon had the whole team buzzing.

Sitting down by the touchline at Suncorp Metway Stadium (the club’s new home ground) early that season, this scribe can remember Farina zipping down the left flank and calling for a pass from Alan Hunter - who was the team’s captain and probably the Strikers’ most accomplished, experienced and respected player to that time.  After receiving Hunter’s pass and then being clattered by a defender, Farina turned to the big man (Hunter), glared at him and yelled: “Give it to me EARLY next time!”.

That was perhaps a sneak preview of the way the Strikers’ play would develop over the next season or two.  There really was not much point in having attack-minded speedsters of the likes of Farina and Sean Cranney, and a clinical finisher in Rod Brown, in the line-up if the ball was not released to the quick men early, allowing them to collect and then turn and face defenders. It did not take long for the message to sink in and, when it did, the Strikers became a free-wheeling and very attractive football side to watch, particularly effective on the counter-attack.

Farina was certainly the star turn that season, but while he was creating havoc among defenders desperate to shut down his goal scoring opportunities, he was creating space and time for his forward partner Rod Brown.  For his part, Brown expressed appreciation in the best way possible with a season haul of thirteen goals.

Other players who played valuable supporting goal scoring roles that season included Jason Polak (4 goals) and Sean Cranney, Mark Battistin and Chris Zoricich with three apiece.  Alan Hunter had, by his standards, a lean season (2) and his contribution was matched by Brad Ditton.

It would be remiss of us not to acknowledge that the big improvement in the Strikers’ total number of goals that season owed something to the fact that there were 33 NSL fixtures, rather than 26 as in previous seasons, plus an extra two for the Strikers in the finals play-offs which ended with defeat at the hands of Sydney United.  However, the team’s average number of goals per game of 1.57 in 1995/96 easily outstripped that of 1.31 in 1994/95.

But that per-game comparison, averaged out as it is over a large number of games, presents an understated picture of the Strikers’ improvement in front of goal.  There were some rampant performances that season, including the club-record 7-1 win over Adelaide City at Suncorp Metway Stadium.  There was also a 6-1 romp over Morwell Falcons and a 5-0 flogging of the Newcastle Breakers (coached in those days by John Kosmina), both of which also occurred at home.

Looking back with the benefit of 20/20 vision, it is not surprising that those lopsided scorelines occurred in the comfortable surrounds of the team’s home ground.  That is because the Brisbane Strikers that season showed every sign of having, collectively, a split personality - with one of those personalities on display at home and quite another on display while on the road.  Of their 55 goals that season, a massive 46 were scored at Suncorp Metway Stadium, and only 9 in away matches.  It was this inability to perform away from home that perhaps separated the Brisbane Strikers that season from the real contenders for the title.

Goals Scored By the Brisbane Strikers - 1995/96 season

v Marconi Stallions (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 07-Oct (L1-3)

126. Frank Farina (11' pen)

v Newcastle Breakers (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 21-Oct (W5-0)

127. Sean Cranney (3')
128. Rod Brown (25')
129. Sean Cranney (51')
130. Frank Farina (54')
131. Mark Battistin (90')

v Morwell Falcons (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 04-Nov (W1-0)

132. Frank Farina (83')

v Canberra Cosmos (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 18-Nov (W3-1)

133. Frank Farina (26')
134. Sean Cranney (30')
135. Andrew Brayshaw (89')

v Wollongong Wolves (Brandon Park) 24-Nov (W2-1)

136. Frank Farina (18')
137. Rod Brown (66')

v South Melbourne (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 02-Dec (W3-0)

138. Danny Wright (33')
139. Rod Brown (61')
140. Mark Battistin (63')

v Marconi Stallions (Marconi Stadium) 09-Dec (W2-1)

141. Chris Zoricich (20')
142. Chris Zoricich (44')

v West Adelaide (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 16-Dec (W3-1)

143. Rod Brown (4')
144. Frank Farina (8')
145. Chris Zoricich (21')

v Sydney United (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 23-Dec (W4-0)

146. Frank Farina (22')
147. Frank Farina (80')
148. Frank Farina (86')
149. Alan Hunter (89')

v Morwell Falcons (Mobil Park) 06-Jan (W1-0)

150. Rod Brown (60')

v Adelaide City Force (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 03-Feb (W7-1)

151. Brad Ditton (18')
152. Frank Farina (34')
153. Rod Brown (46')
154. Rod Brown (48')
155. Frank Farina (50')
156. Frank Farina (52')
157. Jason Polak (76')

v Canberra Cosmos (Bruce Stadium) 10-Feb (W2-1)

158. Brad Ditton (10')
159. Gary Phillips (72')

v Wollongong Wolves (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 17-Feb (D1-1)

160. own goal (42')

v Sydney Olympic (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 02-Mar (W3-1)

161. Rod Brown (22')
162. Jason Polak (24')
163. Rod Brown (44')

v Marconi Stallions (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 09-Mar (D1-1)

164. Rod Brown (46')

v Newcastle Breakers (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 23-Mar (W3-2)

165. Alan Hunter (38' pen)
166. Frank Farina (59')
167. Frank Farina (89')

v Morwell Falcons (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 30-Mar (W6-1)

168. Rod Brown (7')
169. Frank Farina (17')
170. Frank Farina (24')
171. Jason Polak (37')
172. Mark Battistin (41')
173. Rod Brown (68')

v Canberra Cosmos (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 08-Apr (W2-0)

174. Jason Polak (62')
175. Troy Cranney (80')

v Wollongong Wolves (Brandon Park) 12-Apr (W1-0)

176. Frank Farina (73')

v South Melbourne (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 20-Apr (W2-0)

177. Frank Farina (55')
178. Frank Farina (64')

v Sydney Olympic (Leichhardt Oval) 28-Apr (L1-2)

179. Rod Brown (88')

v Sydney United (Suncorp Metway Stadium) 11-May (L1-2) elimination final

180. Frank Farina (3')

 

1995/96 Season Final Table

3pts/win, 1pt/draw
Note : The top six teams after the regular season will enter a playoff to decide the championship.

While the Brisbane Strikers’ fourth NSL season again ended in disappointment, with the club finishing three points adrift of the top six and its first finals campaign, there were hints of what was to come over the next few years.  The Strikers’ goals tally of 34 from 26 games still did not set the world on fire, but represented the club’s best return yet.

One of the things the Strikers did right that season was to sign from Newcastle a player who was a proven goal scorer at NSL level.  That player was Rod Brown who, while wearing the gold and blue, would go on to become the NSL’s most prolific scorer.  Brown was not one for the spectacular finish, but was instead the type of player whose touch and solid technique in front of goal enabled him to supply a clinical finish in circumstances where others might have fumbled or got stage fright.

Brown’s total number of goals for the season was nine - not an astonishing number by any means, but still the best effort by a Brisbane Striker in four seasons of football.  But he was not the sole Golden Boot Winner for the Brisbane Strikers that season.  That honour was shared with Chris Slater, who also got nine in his best season for the team.

Slater also achieved a unique honour when he became the first player to score for the Brisbane Strikers in the first minute of a game in getting the opener in a 4-1 win over Parramatta Eagles on 12 February 1995.  In the very same game Slater got two in the first eight minutes.  But his was not the fastest double up to then by a Brisbane Striker.  That achievement was registered only the week before when Chris Zoricich scored in the second and sixth minutes against West Adelaide at Perry Park.

The season was notable for the governing body deciding to adopt the American-inspired idea of using penalty shoot-outs to settle regular season games that were drawn at ninety minutes - an act of lunacy, in the minds of purists, that never saw the light of day again.  Goals scored in penalty shoot-outs, however, did not count for statistical purposes.  But maybe all the extra practice from spot-kicks had a flow-on effect for the Strikers, who scored four times from the penalty spot within the regulation 90 minutes that season - their best effort so far.  One of those successful spot-kicks, by Rod Brown against Brunswick on 3 December 1994, was the Brisbane Strikers’ 100th goal.

The indomitable Alan Hunter again chipped in with four goals for the season, bringing his total for the Strikers to fifteen, while Sean Cranney won the annual battle of the siblings over Troy by three goals to one.  Brad Ditton and Zoricich each got three for the season.

Two players got their only goals for the club during this season.  Craig Willliams, who was to play at the heart of the Strikers’ defence in the 1997 Grand Final, got his in a 2-0 home win over Wollongong Wolves while Alun Evans found the mark in a 2-0 win over Heidelberg in Melbourne.  They joined John Collins, Ibro Cahut, Steve Bullock, Joe Stipancic, Brent Read, Andrew Lees and one other player on the list of Brisbane Strikers “one-hit wonders”.

The other player?  Well, believe it or not (and being the prolific goal scorer at State League level that he was, the man probably will not thank us for this), it was none other than Kieron Cooper, who had notched his single strike in 1992/93.

Goals Scored By the Brisbane Strikers - 1994/95 season

v South Melbourne (Perry Park) 29-Oct (W3-1)

92. Rod Brown (22')
93. Brad Ditton (65')
94. Sean Cranney (85')

v Wollongong Wolves (Perry Park) 05-Nov (W2-0)

95. Brad Ditton (35')
96. Craig Williams (42')

v West Adelaide (Hindmarsh Stadium) 13-Nov (L1-2)

97. Rod Brown (25')

v Brunswick (Perry Park) 03-Dec (W3-0)

98. Troy Cranney (62')
99. Rod Brown (77')
100. Rod Brown (85' pen)

v Heidelberg (Olympic Village) 10-Dec (W2-0)

101. Alunn Evans (27')
102. Chris Slater (73')

v Morwell Falcons (Perry Park) 17-Dec (D1-1)

103. Alan Hunter (23' pen)

v Adelaide City Force (Perry Park) 02-Jan (D1-1)

104. Chris Slater (78')

v Marconi Stallions (Perry Park) 14-Jan (W2-1)

105. Chris Slater (48')
106. Alan Hunter (89')

v West Adelaide (Perry Park) 04-Feb (D2-2)

107. Chris Zoricich (2')
108. Chris Zoricich (6')

v Parramatta Eagles (Melita Stadium) 12-Feb (W4-1)

109. Chris Slater (1')
110. Chris Slater (8')
111. Chris Zoricich (60')
112. Rod Brown (88')

v Brunswick (Olympic Park) 26-Feb (L1-2)

113. Alan Hunter (83')

v Heidelberg (Perry Park) 04-Mar (W4-1)

114. Alan Hunter (57')
115. Chris Slater (63')
116. Brad Ditton (75')
117. Rod Brown (81')

v Sydney United (Perry Park) 08-Mar (L1-2)

118. Chris Slater (11')

v Morwell Falcons (Mobil Park) 11-Mar (L1-5)

119. Rod Brown (82')

v Sydney Olympic (Perry Park) 01-Apr (W3-2)

120. Chris Slater (67' pen)
121. Chris Slater (75' pen)
122. Sean Cranney (87')

v Marconi Stallions (Marconi Stadium) 09-Apr (D3-3)

123. Rod Brown (61')
124. Rod Brown (67')
125. Sean Cranney (70')

1994/95 Season Final Table

Note : 4pts/win, draws determined by penalty shoot-out: 2pts/win on penalties, 1pt/loss on penalties

The top six teams at the end of 26 rounds will enter a playoff to decide the champions of the 1994-95 season of the National Soccer League.

* Our thanks to Andrew Howe and the OzFootball website for the statistics used in today’s installment.  

National Soccer League season number three for the Brisbane Strikers produced even fewer fireworks in front of goal than season two.  Successful strikes were as scarce as hens’ teeth, as they scored only 28 goals from 26 games.

And yet the season was not as poor for the club as the previous season.  The Strikers finished eighth, only five points outside the top six.  This was due in large part to the team achieving a virtual lock-down at the back, conceding only 25 - the third-best effort in the league and fewer than half of the tally they conceded the previous season.

For the third season running, though, no player scored more than six goals for the Strikers.  This year, it was Chris Slater who topped the goal tally with exactly that number.  A trio of players - Sean Cranney, Kevin Meacock and Danny Wright - finished with one less.

The season finished with the Strikers still looking for their first scorer of a hat-trick, but three players (Meacock, Sean Cranney and Wright) got on the score sheet twice in a game.  Meacock managed that feat twice in the season, against Adelaide City and Sydney Olympic.

Alan Hunter managed three, keeping alive his record of having scored for the club in every season it had competed in the NSL while Frank Pimblett, playing in his final NSL season, bagged two.

By 1993/94 Wright (who had returned to his native State from Melbourne), Clint Bolton and Craig Williams had joined the team with whom they would win a championship within three seasons.

Goals Scored By the Brisbane Strikers - 1993/94 season  

v Parramatta Eagles (Perry Park) 23-Oct (D1-1)

64. Andrew Lees (32')

v Heidelberg (Perry Park) 13-Nov (L1-2)

65. Frank Pimblett (57')

v Melbourne Knights (Knights Stadium) 21-Nov (W2-0)

66. Troy Cranney (39')
67. Chris Slater (90')

v Sydney Olympic (Perry Park) 04-Dec (L2-3)

68. Kevin Meacock (51')
69. Kevin Meacock (62')

v Wollongong Wolves (Brandon Park) 10-Dec (D2-2)

70. Sean Cranney (15')
71. Sean Cranney (41')

v Adelaide City Force (Perry Park) 15-Dec (W2-1)

72. Kevin Meacock (50')
73. Kevin Meacock (66')

v West Adelaide (Perry Park) 18-Dec (W2-1)

74. Kevin Meacock (5')
75. Alan Hunter (30')

v Brunswick (Perry Park) 29-Dec (W2-0)

76. Danny Wright (15')
77. Danny Wright (59')

v Morwell Falcons (Perry Park) 08-Jan (W4-0)

78. Chris Slater (9')
79. Sean Cranney (16')
80. Chris Slater (24')
81. Danny Wright (80')

v Parramatta Eagles (Melita Stadium) 16-Jan (D1-1)

82. Chris Slater (57')

v Marconi Stallions (Perry Park) 26-Jan (W2-0)

83. Alan Hunter (35')
84. Chris Slater (73')

v Heidelberg (Olympic Village) 30-Jan (W1-0)

85. Danny Wright (60')

v Wollongong Wolves (Perry Park) 26-Feb (W2-0)

86. Chris Slater (11')
87. Sean Cranney (87')

v West Adelaide (Hindmarsh Stadium) 06-Mar (L1-2)

88. Alan Hunter (88')

v South Melbourne (Perry Park) 12-Mar (W2-0)

89. Frank Pimblett (39')
90. Sean Cranney (63')

v Newcastle Breakers (Perry Park) 27-Mar (W1-0)

91. Danny Wright (46')

1993/94 Season Final Table

 Note : 3pts/win, 1pt/draw.

The top six teams at the end of 26 rounds will enter a playoff to decide the champions of the 1993-94 season of the National Soccer League.

* Our thanks to Andrew Howe and the OzFootball website for the statistics used in today’s installment.

Brisbane United’s second season resulted in a ‘goals for’ column very similar to that of their first season.  In fact, they scored one more - with a total of thirty two.  But whereas in 1991/92 thirty-one goals were enough for the team to finish just outside the top six, 1992/93’s haul of goals was achieved in a miserable season which would see them finish second-last and avoid the wooden spoon only because Preston Makedonia had four points deducted for crowd disturbances the previous season.

The reason for the team’s dramatic fall down the table was at the other end, where 64 goals were conceded as United put in some wildly inconsistent performances.

Again the team struggled to find a genuinely potent striker.  That this was the case is shown by the fact that veteran Frank Pimblett, a midfielder-cum-defender, contributed most goals with six.  Clayton Koch and Alan Hunter managed four each, while Troy Cranney, Chris Slater and newcomer Mark Battistin got three.

No Brisbane United player managed a hat-trick that season, but Pimblett managed a brace on two occasions.  The season was also notable for the first penalty scored by Brisbane United, this honour falling to Koch who scored in the forty-fourth minute what was the team’s only goal in a 5-1, Round 12 thumping by Preston Makedonia.

While the team endured a season of struggle, it is interesting to note some of the names that appeared on the team sheet by mid-season.  By then, the United team contained a number of names that would, three and four seasons down the track, form the nucleus of the teams that figured in the Brisbane Strikers’ most consistent campaigns, proving that often players must get through some rough times together to learn and grow as footballers.  By February, 1993 the side included Hunter, Glen Gwynne, Steve Jackson, Sean and Troy Cranney, Mark Battistin and Brad Ditton.  Over the coming seasons names such as Frank Farina, Rod Brown, Danny Wright, Gary Phillips and Clint Bolton would be added to the squad.  This would be enough to turn the frogs into princes.  

Goals Scored By the Brisbane Strikers - 1992/93 season

v Morwell Falcons (Perry Park) 09-Oct (W3-0)

32. Frank Pimblett (33')
33. Chris Slater (86')
34. Frank Pimblett (88')

v Heidelberg (Perry Park) 24-Oct (D1-1)

35. Chris Slater (94')

v Melbourne Knights (Knights Stadium) 01-Nov (L1-3)

36. John Brown (50')

v Marconi Stallions (Perry Park) 07-Nov (W2-1)

37. Chris Slater (30')
38. Troy Cranney (44')

v Sydney Olympic (Perry Park) 14-Nov (L1-2)

39. Alan Hunter (84')

v West Adelaide (Perry Park) 28-Nov (L3-5)

40. Kieron Cooper (4')
41. Clayton Koch (8')
42. Troy Cranney (78')

v Preston (Olympic Park) 20-Dec (L1-5)

43. Clayton Koch (44' pen)

v Morwell Falcons (Mobil Park) 02-Jan (D1-1)

44. Clayton Koch (14')

v Parramatta Eagles (Perry Park) 09-Jan (D3-3)

45. Brad Ditton (50')
46. Troy Cranney (51')
47. Steve Bullock (80')

v Adelaide City Force (Perry Park) 16-Jan (W4-2)

48. Clayton Koch (5')
49. Frank Pimblett (58')
50. Alan Hunter (68')
51. Sean Cranney (72')

v Melbourne Knights (Perry Park) 26-Jan (W3-0)

52. Frank Pimblett (38')
53. Mark Battistin (52')
54. Frank Pimblett (74')

v Marconi Stallions (Marconi Stadium) 30-Jan (L1-5)

55. Mark Battistin (82')

v Wollongong Wolves (Perry Park) 13-Feb (L2-3)

56. Frank Pimblett (25')
57. Joe Stipancic (36')

v Sydney United (Perry Park) 27-Feb (L1-3)

58. own goal (30')

v South Melbourne (Middle Park) 28-Mar (L1-5)

59. Alan Hunter (40')

v Preston (Perry Park) 03-Apr (W3-0)

60. Alan Hunter (4')61. Brent Read (14')
62. John Brown (46')

v Newcastle Breakers (Breakers Stadium) 11-Apr (L1-2)

63. Mark Battistin (86')

1992/93 Season Final Table

 3pts/win, 1pt/draw  

Today we begin our weekly series focusing on the goals scored by the Brisbane Strikers in their thirteen years of competition so far - thirteen years played in the now-defunct National Soccer League.  We hope the series brings back some memories for you, and encourage you to visit the Thunder Box to tell us your recollections about some of those goals.

If you are to do so this week, however, you’ll need to have been around for a while.  That’s because we begin...well, at the beginning - with the goals scored in the 1991/92 season.  The Brisbane Strikers (then called Brisbane United) entered that season as National Soccer League debutantes, having been formed to represent Brisbane three years after the Brisbane Lions left the city without an NSL team, having pulled out of the NSL in 1988 amid spiralling debt and declining attendances, and as holders of the wooden spoon.

With a new squad, some of whom had not had the opportunity to play football at national league level for three years, the new Brisbane club could have been expected to struggle.

But instead they did surprisingly well, finishing the season in the top half of the table and narrowly missing out on a finals berth.  In doing so, they scored thirty-one goals from 26 games - not a particularly high return but competitive when measured against thirty-five conceded.  And, while we are using that word “competitive”, it will surprise no-one who witnessed the big man’s insatiable hunger to win that Alan Hunter got the club’s first ever goal in its first ever game.  In fact, it took him only five minutes.  He also got the club’s first double in the same game.

But Hunter’s strike was not quite the club’s fastest that season.  That honour went to Clayton Koch, who managed a third-minute strike in a 2-0 victory over South Melbourne at Perry Park in Round 22.  John Brown popped up with the latest goal of the season, with the clincher one minute from full time in a 2-0 home win over Sydney Olympic.

Koch shared top-scorer honours for the Strikers that year with Chris Slater.  Both, however, managed only six goals as the team struggled to find a consistent striker.  Goals were contributed by nine players (ten if you include a single own-goal contributed by Wollongong City), with Hunter and Brown the next highest scorers with four.

Goals Scored By the Brisbane Strikers - 1991/92 season

v West Adelaide (Perry Park) 06-Oct (D2-2)

1. Alan Hunter (5')
2. Alan Hunter (33')

v Marconi Stallions (Marconi Stadium) 13-Oct (W1-0)

3. Chris Slater (68')

v Heidelberg (Perry Park) 20-Oct (W1-0)

4. Alan Hunter (57')

v Melbourne Knights (Knights Stadium) 27-Oct (L1-3)

5. Ibro Cahut (84')

v Sydney United (Sydney Utd Sports Centre) 03-Nov (D2-2)

6. Chris Slater (14')
7. Clayton Koch (77')

v Sydney Olympic (Perry Park) 10-Nov (W2-0)

8. Chris Slater (43')
9. John Brown (89')

v Adelaide City Force (Perry Park) 23-Nov (D1-1)

10. Craig Collins (30')

v South Melbourne (Middle Park) 01-Dec (L1-4)

11. Clayton Koch (43')

v Preston (Perry Park) 07-Dec (D1-1)

12. Frank Pimblett (11')

v APIA Leichhardt (Perry Park) 21-Dec (W2-1)

13. Alan Hunter (53')
14. Robert Markovac (77')

v West Adelaide (Hindmarsh Stadium) 29-Dec (W1-0)

15. Robert Markovac (52')

v Marconi Stallions (Perry Park) 01-Jan (D1-1)

16. Clayton Koch (11')

v Heidelberg (Olympic Village) 05-Jan (L1-2)

17. John Brown (66')

v Melbourne Knights (Perry Park) 11-Jan (L1-2)

18. Clayton Koch (72')

v Sydney United (Perry Park) 18-Jan (L1-2)

19. Chris Slater (79')

v Wollongong Wolves (Perry Park) 15-Feb (W2-1)

20. Robert Markovac (46')
21. own goal (53')

v Sydney Olympic (St George Stadium) 19-Feb (D1-1)

22. Jim McDonagh (57')

v South Melbourne (Perry Park) 29-Feb (W2-0)

23. Clayton Koch (3')
24. John Brown (27')

v Preston (Connor Reserve) 08-Mar (D1-1)

25. John Brown (56')

v Newcastle Breakers (Perry Park) 14-Mar (L3-5)

26. Chris Slater (23')
27. Chris Slater (46')
28. Robert Markovac (56')

v APIA Leichhardt (Leichhardt Oval) 20-Mar (D1-1)

29. Frank Pimblett (76')

v Parramatta Eagles (Perry Park) 29-Mar (W2-1)

30. Clayton Koch (49')
31. Jim McDonagh (87')

1991-92 Season Final Table

 2pts/win, 1pt/draw

* Our thanks to Andrew Howe and the OzFootball website for the statistics used in today’s installment.