The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 38

THE AGE MONDAY 27 MAY 1996 Picture: RAY KENNEDY TIE WEEKEND III SPORT F7 F7" tar Hennksson wanted to ue sure na won the Isiritoor Owen in bwedei) I H' over the weekend. So he holed eight straight birdies a Swedis record on the front nine. "I wi so close to making It nine in a row." said Henriksson. "I just lipped out on the ninth." He need not have worried. He won the tournament by seven shots.

m- 1 HI if 13 1 IE ii 5 li 1 Jim Stynes is not a violent man, but he Is tough. 1 here's a distinction in footy, even though it might get a bit blurred at times. Stynes" achievement of completing 205 successive games for Melbourne, bemtns! the 53-vear-old durability record held by Richmond Jack Skinny "Situs, has been hailed and rightly so. To do it ss a ruck-m ill vH if. r.

win tiV (t lut in tW'i vi t1 ij hft tflorl 3 I'l tii.it in mi! ml st an i' fcuio 11 unl I l.f was 16 rounds it off. "Congratulations son, you're a gteat chat." said Jim mother, Theresa, on radio on Saturday mtfit. Hear, hear. Ft Is 13 CO mm A month ago there were muf Sled celebrations in Victona for the death of West Coast. Mick Malthouse went on rooty' and sounded like he was coining I home a beaten man.

A year of ft III JA A-ow "iCflAks. iim ail i mm h'iiiujwip ft it? its if-' yinSWiiii transition, ne naa ceiiea rt, ana most people took tne fast forward four games, four caste wins, -and. you have a drtk, tut Young fclokes with ereat tote ir nlng around everyvi 't tu (u 'i e- nieut Matera and Mainwanf ri and- Kemp. Yep, there's no ioi-'lit 5 rt. S.iiuiday may have been only a routine win over Hawthorn, but It I time to get paranoid atout toe I Eagles The joy of back-to-back championships: elated Melbourne Knights players celebrate their 2-1 victory over Marconi.

MELBOURNE KNIGHTS MARCONI ii 4 ii -i. 1 i imnm limn mi ii. i I i 1 1 i ri 1 i1 1 i ii'ili. I 'i if 1 1 i 3 (: i i i a i If, h' 1 ft 1 i I liiiiiililliMiniftiiniiiiiiiiiniflliiilBiliiriiriiiitfwiiiwiliiiiwiMiiiiriiitrti rti'ftrir'i" Wl.ll1U.lW..Il..WI.PIIIIll-.!.HI'U..W to). i wiMiMwMmi mWtMWfwt rt 7iJvtil It was Knights coach Ian Dobson's second grand final victory in less than a year, having steered Altona Magic to the Victorian Premier League championship about 10 months ago.

Dobson took oyer the Knights In round 16. Marth should have converted a low cross at close range early in the second half before making amends by sliding on to a pass from Vinko Bulju-basic for the first goal in the 69th Goalkeeper Bob Catlin blocked Marth 's first attempt but was helpless as Marth switched to his left foot to put away the rebound while lying on his back. In the 75th minute, a shot by substitute Joe Bacak was blocked by the Marconi defence, and striker Adrian Cervinski scored on the rebound. Instinctively, the Knights went on the defensive to protect their lead and paid for it when Harper headed home a cross from Brendan Renaud in the 80th minute. ERICSSON CU UMNO FMAU IMom fripM I (Minn 59, A CmlntU 75) Uirconl 1 (Hvpw 80).

Oym- By LAURIE SCHWAB The Melbourne Knights face a penalty of at least $10,000 after their ecstatic fans swarmed on to the pitch to celebrate a 2-1 victory over Marconi in the Erics-: son- Cup soccer grand final, at Olympic Park yesterday. But no one gave two hoots about the invasion. a What mattered was that the Knights had earned the right to call them-selves the outstanding Australian soccer team of the 1990s. And they did it in the absence of three key players Danny Tiatto. Joe Spiteri and goalkeeper Frank luric who are on national team duty for Australia's Olympic qualifying match against Canada in Edmonton.

It was the Knights' second successive championship triumph and their fifth grand final in six seasons. They have won four minor premiershlps in the past six seasons. They produced the league's top scorer (Mark Viduka) in two of the past three seasons and the league's best player in four of the past seven seasons (Viduka twice, jostp Biskic and Zeljko Adzic). 'Yesterday, skipper Andrew Marth followed Biskic and Steve Horvat as the third Knights player to win the Marston Medal as best playef of the grand final. Marth also scored the opening goal as he did against Adelaide City last season.

Uttle wonder then that no one real-ry cared about the crowd warnings of competition manager Stefan Kamasz in the post-match hysteria, during which players were swamped by waves of fans washing over the perimeter fence. i "Our fans were just overjoyed about the said Marth. It was our first grand final win at home and it was Just a tremendous relief for them after watching us lose on penalties twice in the past few years. Marconi, weakened by the absence of striker Francis Awaritefe who had come down with a virus, closed down opponents conscientiously for the first 20 minutes but had little more to as the Knights took over relent-, lessly, with Lubo Lapsansky running the midficld and David Cervinski barging out of defence. Marconi coach Manfred Schaefer rued the absence of Awaritefe, who bad scored 14 goals this season.

"With Francis, I think we would have opened them up duilng the first half," he said. The harsh reality, however, is that failed to beat the Knights in six encounters in 1995-96. pc Kim. frmtmc Simiric Cnl UvkonU ponctoak Bacak 75), Mwti 9. Kovicavfc 5 (BujbMlc 7.

MUMta). Laoaanakv DaAmm a MalfaNlU 7 nautavM K)7A CaMMU Mananl: Cam Bunion Ungo 7. Sort Eonond 5 (Anjakied 70). Matonay I. HModoulou 5.

ZortB 5. Ranaud 7 Harpar I. Btngtoy XNri: EddH Unma 9. 1.