The Red Devils travelled over to Albany Creek Saturday evening for another clash against a top 3 opponent, Moreton Bay United. This was just 3 days after a tough battle on Wednesday evening down the coast against Gold Coast Knights.
It was a strange game with Redlands creating more of the play, created more scoring opportunities but still trailed at half time thanks to Moreton Bay’s only shot on goal in the half.
The Red Devils started strongly as just like the previous game, within the 1st minute they gave United a real scare when Peter Klaassen played the ball across the face of goal eluding the surging runs and out stretched feet of Redlands players by inches. Jack Skinner also went close 4 minutes later when he also shot across the face of goal just missing the far post, after picking the ball up around half way and surged towards goal at pace before firing his shot in just outside the box.
The 1st 30 minutes was just constant pressure by Redlands with corner after corner with consistent possession with Moreton Bay defending with 8 or 9 players in the box crowding the Red Devils with no room for a clean shot. Then on 32 minutes United got their goal when Joe Scott against the run of play fired in a rocket of a shot from outside the box.
Redlands didn’t drop their heads they continued to press on. A few minutes before half time Ryo Emoto picked the ball up just 10 meters out from his own goal and ran it up field beating defender after defender, twisting and turning and using little bursts of speed before finally getting his shot away just outside the box which just creased the top side of the cross bar.
The 2nd stanza continued in much the same pattern as the 1st, Redlands dominating the play but just not able to score past the packed Moreton Bay defense. Only a few minutes into the half Deane Alterio picked up a loose ball and drove forward and shot from just outside the box only for the ball to strike the cross bar and be cleared away by the scrambling defense.
Five minutes later Redlands thought they had scored when from a corner a header had the keeper beaten only for the ball to be cleared off the line in a last gasp effort. Wo minutes later Moreton Bay scored their 2nd goal when Redlands were unable to properly clear the ball from within their penalty box only for it to fall straight to a United player who made no mistake with his shot.
Redlands continued to create scoring opportunities but were continually thwarted by the crowding defense or their Keeper Matt Lugo who pulled off some superb saves. The Red Devils finally had their penalty when Emoto took the ball into the box and was pulled down giving the referee no option but to award the penalty. Dylan Brent made no mistake with the spot kick reduced the deficit with basically the last play of the match as the referee signaled full time as soon as Moreton Bay restarted the match.
It was a tough encounter for the Red Devils controlling the play and creating more scoring opportunities than their opponents but just not being able to convert that onto the scoreboard. It was just one of those nights.
Redlands’ Fiction Bar and Restaurant, Man of the Match was awarded to a defender our No 3 Max Ellenger.
Sunday afternoon football returns to Cleveland next weekend as Redlands re-group for their home clash against 2nd placed side Gold Coast United at Compass Grounds for their Round 18 NPL Men’s fixture kicking off at 3.15pm with the Under 23’s at 12.45pm.