Roar arrive in Sydney later today en-route to the Central Coast for their Wednesday night A-League clash with the Mariners.

If Ange Postecoglou’s men remain unbeaten in Gosford, the red-hot Queenslanders will hit the 21-game unbeaten mark, equalling the famous APIA Leichhardt side of 1987.

One of the stars of that minor Premiership winning side was Katholos. The skilful former Socceroo playmaker recalls the run fondly but said the mental toll became an albatross over time. 

“I remember at the time there was a lot of pressure to remain undefeated. There was a lot of press, a lot of talk and it was all about being undefeated," he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"You’re in a bubble and everyone’s building it up.” 

In round 22 of the NSL, unbeaten APIA traveled to Melbourne’s Connor Reserve to play title rival Preston Macedonia. But a red hot Goce Dimovski slammed in a hat-trick to help Preston defeat the visitors 4-0 and end the unbeaten run. 

There was however a sliver lining to this rout, recalled Katholos.

“When we did get beaten it was actually a relief and that pressure was lifted,” Katholos said. “On the plane back to Sydney all the boys were saying, ‘Gee, we’re glad that’s over’.

“I hope it doesn’t happen to these boys [Roar] but I’ve been watching on the TV and I’ve been thinking, ‘Shit, are Roar going to beat our record?’ Good luck to them if they do.”

APIA regrouped a week later to thrash South Melbourne 4-0. The side went on to win the league by six points losing only twice in the season.

Katholos, who was on loan that year, had the job of supplying the front-line as a creator. At times Katholos’s contribution was sublime under the tutelage of former Socceroo World Cup boss Rale Rasic.

APIA was packed with other eye-catching talent including keeper Tony Pezzano, defensive bulwarks Arno Bertogna and Charlie Yankos and strike duo Gary Ward and “Rocket” Rod Brown.

“It was all about characters and it was an amazing, amazing feeling to go on that run. When you’ve got winners in the side, that’s what happens,” said Katholos, capped 22 times for Australia, his last in 1984.

Asked if he was the Thomas Broich of APIA and Katholos smiled.

“I was a number ten, I was the creative player," he said. They needed me to provide the passes for them to score. He’s a creative player so, yeah, you can say we were similar in style.”

Quizzed on whether the APIA side would’ve beaten the current Roar team, and Katholos was typically bullish.

“They have some great players but we did have one of best sides assembled at the time with a lot of international players and famous players." he added.

“I reckon we would’ve beaten them [Roar] but at the end of the day they’re a great side and it’s good to watch a team that is along the lines of our team.”