REDLANDS United were left to rue a host of missed opportunities after dominating their local derby against Capalaba, only to be held to a 1-1 draw at Nudgee Recreation Reserve.
With Redlands’ home ground unavailable, the derby was switched to Nudgee, but it was the Red Devils who controlled proceedings for almost the entire 90 minutes.
The opening 25 minutes was an evenly contested midfield battle before Redlands gradually took control.
The breakthrough came in the 39th minute when Ryuga Fukuda found the back of the net to give the visitors a deserved 1-0 lead.
From that point, Redlands dictated the match, enjoying the lion’s share of possession and creating chance after chance.
Capalaba defended resolutely and looked to hit on the counterattack, but the Red Devils’ defence was rarely troubled.
Despite their dominance, Redlands could not extend their advantage as Capalaba repeatedly threw bodies in the way of shots and cleared dangerous balls from inside the penalty area.
The missed chances proved costly in the 86th minute when Capalaba made the most of its only shot of the night, finishing off a swift counterattack to level the scores at 1-1.
Redlands responded with a late barrage, forcing corner after corner and sending a series of crosses into the six-yard box, but were unable to find a winner.
The closest they came was in the dying seconds when a sliding attacker narrowly missed an open goal from close range, clipping the outside of the post.
Redlands coach Graham Fyfe was left frustrated by his side’s inability to convert its dominance into three points.
“Well, that just sums up football man,” he said.
“How did we not score more? Do you know what? I’m gutted we didn’t score two.
“I’m even more gutted we didn’t score seven or eight.
“Because that was proper domination from minute one to even the last open goal in the last minute. I think they had one chance and scored it in the second half. Fair play, it was a good counter.
“But yes, it’s annoying. I’ve got to laugh this one off because we just dominated. Next time hopefully we’ll come away with the points.”
