ALL eyes now turn to Friday night at Amcal Arena, where the Red Devils will host NPL heavyweights Gold Coast Knights in Round 2 of the Kappa Pro Series — but not before reflecting on an encouraging, if frustrating, opening hit-out of the season.
Competition football returned to Redlands last Friday evening with the Red Devils hosting newly promoted Robina City in Round 1 at Amcal Arena, Cleveland.
In just their second match together this season, Redlands went down 2–0, a result that belied the number of positives taken from the performance.
The Red Devils opened the contest in full attacking mode, moving the ball at pace and playing sharp one-touch football as play flowed from end to end.
Redlands were unlucky not to find the net during a strong opening spell that had Robina under sustained pressure.
Fine margins proved the difference, with a goalmouth scramble in each half allowing Robina City to capitalise and take the points.
Despite the result, there was plenty for the home side to be pleased with as combinations began to form and fitness continued to build.
Number nine Ryuga Fukuda was a constant menace to the Robina defence and was rewarded with the Red Devils’ Man of the Match honours after an energetic performance.
Redlands Head Coach Graham Fyfe said the result highlighted both progress and areas still to be sharpened.
“So, our second game of the year together. Performance-wise there were a lot of good spells,” Fyfe said.
“We need to cut out individual errors quick because you’re going to get punished, which we saw tonight.
“It was good to get minutes into the legs.
“There’s a lack of games at the moment, but once that sharpness comes back, we can turn short spells into longer periods of control.
“When we’re under pressure, we have to be hard to beat again.
“The boys are hurting inside, which is good — you learn a lot from defeats.”
Meanwhile, the Red Devils Under-18s also have a big assignment looming after a strong weekend result.
The Under-18s advanced in the Kappa Queensland Cup on Saturday afternoon with a solid 3–0 win over UQFC in the qualifying round, courtesy of goals from Alfie Wolf-Hewitt, Jack Clough and Gerard White.
They will travel to Ipswich this Sunday to face Ipswich FC in the Round of 32, with kick-off at 3.30pm.
