Words: Michael Flynn
Image: Brisbane Roar/Sport-In-Digital

Redlands United coach Matt Chandler says Tuesday's friendly against Brisbane Roar served to toughen his defence ahead of an important series of fixtures for the bayside club.

With the eighth-placed Red Devils still in finals contention with five matches remaining, Chandler explained he was looking to test his squad defensively to set-up a strong finish to the league campaign.

The visitors held out Roar for much of the first half in the 3-0 defeat, however proved fortunate not to concede more in the second half as Roar twice struck the post.

Speaking post-match, Chandler said he was pleased by the performance whilst conceding the gulf between the two sides.

“You come here against the best team in the country and you know you’re going to have little possession,” he explained.

“We really want to be a better defensive side and I think we proved that tonight. It was one-nil for quite a while, we nearly got a goal and then we made a lot of changes because I wanted to give everyone an opportunity to play in this game.”

He added: “The emphasis in the past two weeks for us has been about learning to defend again with a back four and hopefully tonight is a springboard to get us into the playoffs. That’s our biggest goal still.”

Of the teams ahead of them on the table, only Moreton Bay United have conceded more goals than Redlands so far this season, and Chandler admitted that defence has proved the difference in the race for the league title this season.

“We know we’re a good football side but I think Palm Beach have proven that if you can defend very well in this league as well as score goals then you can win it by quite a way.”

Redlands have been hit hard defensively in the past few weeks, with Cameron Draper switching to Brisbane Strikers and young centre half Kai Halliday returning to the United States to continue a college scholarship.

The changes have resulted in Redlands chancing their arm with experienced attacker Russell Woodruffe now taking a central position in the backline beside James Donnelly.

“He played there against Olympic last week and he did really well. We’ve got a lot of people in the club now that will do anything and play anywhere for the team and that makes a huge difference for us,” Chandler explained.

A large contingent of Redlands juniors were on hand to support the Red Devils and Chandler said the approach to the friendly was also about demonstrating the club’s development ethos.

“We had all our NPL boys come tonight, so it was a club night for us and it’s good to see them all here,” he explained.

“We’re very much a development club, that’s what we want to be known as and that’s what we’re trying to achieve, and the juniors can see the future with a lot of the young boys getting on the park tonight.”

Redlands next NPL Queensland fixture is against Northern Fury at Townsville Sports Reserve this Sunday. Kick-off is scheduled for 3PM.