2008 A-League Grand Final

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.

2008 A-League Grand Final
Event2007–08 A-League
Central Coast Mariners Newcastle Jets
0 1
Date24 February 2008
VenueSydney Football Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Man of the MatchAndrew Durante, Newcastle Jets
RefereeMark Shield
Attendance36,354

Route to the finals
See also: 2007–08 A-League
  Semi Finals 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

Summary
Newcastle Jets celebrating after their Grand Final victory.

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 Mark Bridge scored the only goal after Tony Vidmar slipped, giving 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.

Details
Central Coast Mariners0–1Newcastle Jets
Report Bridge  64'
Attendance: 36,354
Referee: Mark Shield
Central Coast Mariners
Newcastle Jets
GK20 Danny Vukovic 90+4'
MF7 John Hutchinson
MF12 Greg Owens 69'
DF13 Tony Vidmar 75'
DF16 Nigel Boogaard 90'
DF18 Alex Wilkinson (c)
MF19 Adam Kwasnik 69'
FW22 Sasho Petrovski
MF23 Mile Jedinak 12'
FW25 John Aloisi 90+5'
DF26 Alvin Ceccoli
Substitutes:
GK1 Matthew Trott
FW2 Matt Simon 75'
MF6 André Gumprecht 69'
MF10 Tom Pondeljak 69'
DF15 Andrew Clark
Manager:
Lawrie McKinna


Joe Marston Medal: Andrew Durante

Assistant Referees:
Ben Wilson
Nathan Gibson
Fourth Official:
Matthew Breeze
GK1 Ante Čović
DF2 Adam Griffiths 11'
DF3 Jade North (c)
MF5 Stuart Musialik
DF6 Andrew Durante
MF8 Matt Thompson 76'
FW9 Joel Griffiths 37'
DF11 Tarek Elrich
DF13 Adam D'Apuzzo
FW19 Mark Bridge 64' 73'
MF28 Song Jin-Hyung 90+3'
Substitutes:
GK20 Ben Kennedy
MF10 Denni 90+3'
MF18 Noel Spencer
MF22 Jason Hoffman 76'
MF25 James Holland 73'
Manager:
Gary van Egmond
A-League
2008 Champions
Newcastle Jets
First Title

Statistics
Central Coast Newcastle
Attempts at goal136
Attempts on target13
Attempts off target123
Attempts – Woodwork00
Keeper saves11
Ball possession42%58%
Corners16
Fouls committed1815
Offsides14
Yellow cards32
Red cards10

See also
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