REDLANDS City Devils are back on track and fired up for a big showing when they take on the in-form North Queensland Razorbacks at home in their Queensland State League soccer clash this Saturday night.

“It is a vital game for us with just three games to go and will this game will play a big part in determining where we will eventually finish,” Devils assistant coach Dave Thorogood said.

“I saw North Queensland play against the Strikers last weekend and thought they controlled the first half for long periods before finally going down to a quality opposition.

“They will be bitterly disappointed after performing so well and will be determined to knock us off so it will be a challenge we will have to meet head on.”

On team selection for the game Thorogood said: “We welcome Evan Parrish back after a two game suspension, but lose Pat Polistina who heads back to NSW for a family wedding.

“We still have a couple of suspensions and wide man Paul Mellors will probably miss our final three league games because of continual Hamstring problems.

“We are still very much in the mix and I’m sure we will see a positive response from the boys this week at training.”

After suffering successive losses the Redlands City Devils made the trip north to Mackay and recorded a convincing 3-0 victory over the Whitsunday Miners last Sunday afternoon.

Both sides were down on key players but it was the Devils who started the brighter and in the eighth minute the Miners keeper got down well to smother Tau Winnie’s shot after good leadup work from Pat Polistina.

Three minutes later he again saved well at his near post to parry away a fierce shot from Troy Wickstein.

The Devils held plenty of possession and continued to push forward.

Danny Gardner shot from the edge of the Miners penalty box but again their keeper was equal to it and five minutes out from the break the busy Pat Polistina drilled a screamer onto the Miners crossbar from 30 yards with the keeper beaten.

Redlands again took hold of the game early in the second half and Pat Polistina brought out a fine save from the Miners keeper with a well directed shot just outside the penalty box before he was clumsily brought down in the Miners penalty box for the second successive week, only to again see what looked a clear penalty waved away.

The opening goal finally came in the 60th minute when Papua New Guinea striker Tau Winnie reacted first to tap in when the Miners keeper fumbled a cross ball.

The Devils continued to keep the pressure on and the second goal came in the 75th minute with Tau Winnie again being the scorer, rounding the keeper and slotting home after beating the offside trap.

Just four minutes later the Devils should have been three up after a superb quick thinking breakout from the visitors back line involving four Redlands players saw Troy Wickstein again beat the Miners offside trap.

As he bore down on the Miners goal their keeper did enough to send Wickstein wide enough for his effort to roll past the far post.

Wickstein was to get his revenge just a minute later when the Miners flat back four was again caught out on the halfway line as he timed his run perfectly to slot past the advancing keeper to make it 3-0.

Redlands assistant coach Dave Thorogood was relieved to secure the three points.

“We have been doing it tough lately and as I have commented recently losing the league’s second top scorer Barry Moran (back to Ireland) and fellow striker Ramone Close (to Portugal to pursue a professional contract) you are not going to bounce back overnight,”he said.

“It has taken a few weeks to adjust, but as one door closes another opens and Pat Polistina and Tau Winnie have both come in and done well for the team.” The Toscanis Restaurant QSL Player of the Match was awarded to the hard working Pat Polistina.

The Harvey Norman Red Devils travelled to Luxury Paint Stadium to play the competition leaders Queensland Lions in the Division 1 competition.

The Red Devils played well and worked hard but eventually went down 3-0 to the competition’s in-form side.

The Reserve Grade side battled well but were extremely unlucky to go down 2-1 with a goal right on fulltime.

This weekend sees the Division 1 sides at home at their Waterloo Street grounds taking on the Toowoomba Raiders in the rain delayed fixtures. The games are at 3pm and 5pm before the vital QSL game at 7pm.