Soccer: Wolves striking timely form

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Defending Australian National Soccer League champions Wollongong Wolves are doing it right in their build-up towards next month's Oceania qualifiers for the world club championship.

After a slow start, Wollongong have now joined Sydney Olympic at the top of the points table following their eighth-round, 3-1 away win over lowly placed Newcastle United.

In the biggest upset of the round, previously unbeaten Olympic lost 1-2 away to Brisbane Strikers, who scored only their second win of the season.

The Queenslanders have long been a bogey team for Olympic, who have won only twice in their 10 meetings. Jeromy Harris and Paul Foster scored in the 33rd and 85th minutes before Olympic substitute Damon Collina got one back well into injury time.

Wollongong led Newcastle 3-0 at halftime after Robbie Stanton, who had not scored in 88 games before this season, scored twice.

All Whites striker Vaughan Coveny gave South Melbourne a 1-0 halftime lead over Canberra Cosmos. Paul Trimboli made it 2-0 before another New Zealander, former Central striker Brad Scott, closed the gap in the 77th minute after coming into the game as a substitute two minutes earlier.

Another substitute, Goran Lozanovski, scored his first goal of the season as third-placed South Melbourne completed a 3-1 victory.

Perth Glory climbed into the top four with their 2-0 home win over Adelaide City Force. One of their goals came from the penalty spot.

Carlton played out their second successive draw being held 1-1 by Northern Spirit, while Melbourne Knights warmed up for their trip to Ericsson Stadium, where they will play the Football Kingz on Friday night, with a 2-1 home win over bottom-placed Eastern Pride.

The Kingz, well beaten by Marconi, have slipped to 14th place with only Newcastle and Eastern Pride, the only teams the Kingz have beaten this season, below them.