A youthful Redlands United side has gone down in a close 2-1 defeat to Moreton Bay United Jets on Friday night at the showgrounds.
Redlands, who have been hit with an injury crisis fielded four players from their under 20s squad, while defenders Toby Hughes and Jake Sherwood both suffered injuries during the week that kept them from taking the field.
United coach Nick Dibbs said they are still playing and leading with young players but they need to start winning.
“I think James (Edgar) had some real safe hands and Carlton (Westerdale) is a very lively player, he’s come on and made a huge impact,” he said.
“Stuart Edgar and Dylan Hostland both had a full game because of our injuries.”
Redlands went behind early in the match after a defensive error outside the box helped Jets forward Alex Janovsky score with a long range shot.
The Jets doubled their lead 10 minutes later through Donggyu Lee but Redlands hit back quickly as Graham Fyfes’ free-kick found Carlton Westerdale’s head in the box.
Last time the two sides met, it ended in a 2-all draw and it looked destined to finish that way once again after a dominant second half performance by Redlands.
“Obviously, you never want to concede in the first two or three minutes, it was a naive mistake but it happened,” Dibbs said.
“Things happen in games so we have to adapt and change but the same mistakes can’t be made again.”
The Jets took home a much-needed three points, as they battle it out with Far North Queensland Heat and Brisbane City for the final spot in the PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland Finals Series.
The game also marked defender Adam Chandler’s 100th senior appearance with the club.
“I feel very honoured (to have played 100 games) especially with Graham Fyfe and Sam Langley making their milestone games this year too,” he said.
“I am very happy to have hit the 100, it was disappointing not to get the result but still very honoured.”
Chandler thinks the team has improved in the recent months and they are starting to progress.
“The games Nick has had in the last two to three weeks we have started to see the progression,” he said.
“We got the win against (Northern) Fury, very unlucky last week and this week but hopefully we can get a few wins before the end of the season to progress to the next,” Chandler said.
Redlands United are off to Toowoomba this weekend as they face South West Queensland Thunder in their makeup game.
