Sunday afternoon saw Redlands United play their last home game for the 2023 Season in their Round 21 NPL Men’s fixture against the Brisbane Roar.
With beautiful Sunday afternoon weather shining on the two teams, the Red Devils were out of the blocks early. They applied pressure right from the 1st moments of the game and were unlucky not to have been awarded an early penalty when Ryo Emoto appeared to have been brought down in the box right in front of the home crowd, but the Referee waved away the appeals.
With 8 minutes gone on the clock, Emoto caught the Roar defense flat after intercepting the ball in his own half and sent a cross field pass to Peter Klaassen who out-paced the flat defense from half way and calmly slotted the ball past the despairing Roar Keeper.
As you would expect from the Brisbane Roar, it was a tough, tight encounter however Redlands continued to shut down the Roar offences and continued to create their own opportunities. Twice during the 1st half Redlands, through Klaassen and then Guil Santana, sent balls across the Roar goal box only to see them avoid all attempts to get the vital last touch for a goal.
On 30 minutes, after some great free flowing football, Emoto was released into the Roar penalty box where he crossed to Klaassen whose 1st time shot was saved by the Roar Keeper at point blank range, keeping his side in the game.
Redlands continued to grow in confidence and on 43 minutes got their rewards when Deane Alterio was brought down in the box after more fast paced free flowing football. Dylan Brent stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake to give the Red Devils a 2-0 lead going into the half time break.
The Roar came out strong in the 2nd half and moved the ball around, however Redlands scrambling defense stood firm and continued to launch into counter attacks. With just 9 minutes gone in the 2nd half Santana sent Klaassen on a run down the right side where his shot rebounded off the diving keeper but fell safely away from Redlands players.
Just 4 minutes later a long goal kick by Redlands Keeper Joel D’Cruz was met by Klaassen and then Santana who both moved it on first time to allow Emoto to run in behind the Roar defensive line and easily beat the Keeper one on one to give Redlands a 3 goal advantage.
Roar continued to push on for the rest of the 2nd half looking to reduce the deficit, but the Red Devil back line of Dylan Brent, James Piercy, Noah Hitchcock and Max Ellenger stood firm.
As the game progressed, Redlands Head Coach Daniel Varma added some fresh legs through substitutions as he brought on Sean Kennedy, Lee-Nauv Faunt, Josh Marinko and 17 year old Chase Silich, who made his 1st Team Debut. With the fresh legs, Redlands continued to pressure the Roar goal but there was no further addition to the score line with Redlands running out winners in their last home game for the season, 3-0.
The Red Devils took time after the game to go, thank and have a photo with their loyal band of young supporters who were at every home game cheering long and loud.
Next weekend Redlands play their last game in the 2023 Season when they travel to Kippa-Ring on Saturday evening to take on one of the competition’s long standing powerhouses, Peninsula Power. Kick Off is at 6pm with the Under 23’s at 3.45pm. Power will be looking to snatch a finals berth if one of the top 4 teams falter in the final weekend and the Red Devils will be looking to finish as high on the ladder as possible, so it all shapes as a tough thrilling encounter.
