Words: Staff Writers
Image: Ray Gardner

Brisbane Strikers coach Kevin A’herne-Evans has labelled Redlands United as “unpredictable” as he seeks his side’s first win of the season on Saturday.

Strikers host the Red Devils in their first home match of the season, after serving as the away team for last weekend’s opening round draw against Brisbane Roar Youth at Perry Park.

The match will be the first meeting between the sides since Strikers epic PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland Semi-Final extra time win at the same venue.

With honours even at three wins apiece between the sides in the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues  since 2013, A’herne-Evans said he expects another close contest – and said his analysis of Redlands’ opening round win suggested they will prove an adaptable opponent.

“They sat off Gold Coast a lot until they (Gold Coast) got their goal and then they went and pressed, so they are unpredictable in what they do at times,” A’herne-Evans explained.

“But they’ll want the game to be played in our half for as long as possible. They are a very low-risk team.”

“They don’t look to play the ball out from the back, they go and hit (Russell) Woodruffe and when they’ve got people like Michael Lee, Paul O’Brien, Igor Sao Jose, Graham Fyfe, Stephen Green and Nico Bechar they know that in that midfield five they’ve got a number of dangerous players.”

To that end A’herne-Evans said he anticipates an open and attacking contest – reminiscent of the four fixtures the team’s contested last year in both PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues and Westfield FFA Cup competition.

“I’m really looking forward to the game - every time we play Redlands it’s a real open game’” A’herne-Evans said.

“There’s always goals being scored. Last year in the league they probably did a little bit better than us, but when it came to the knockout competitions we got the better of them.”

A’herne-Evans said he anticipates few changes for his side from the opening round and has focused on smoothing rough edges ahead of the clash.

“I thought we showed some pretty good signs last week against Roar and this week I’d expect us to improve a little bit more on the performance,” he explained.

“We probably let ourselves down a little bit sometimes - with our set pieces in particular.”

“We had a number of good opportunities to test them from set pieces but a couple of things with the timing weren’t right in the delivery and execution of runs. So there are little things to fine-tune there,” he concluded.

PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues 2016 – Round 2
Brisbane Strikers FC v Redlands United FC
Saturday, March 5
Perry Park, Brisbane
Kick-off at 6:00PM