Red Devils face a serious first test against Clifton Hill

16 Apr, 2011 12:52 AM

THE Ballarat Red Devils will hope to carry the momentum of Wednesday night’s stunning performance against Melbourne Heart when they return to Football Federation Victoria state league two competition against powerful FC Clifton Hill at Trekardo Park today.

However, the assignment is hardly an easy one for the Haymes Red Devils, even if Clifton Hill does not have the glamour or prestige of an A-League side.

Clifton Hill was relegated from FFV state league one last season and has proven a tough nut to crack in the past.

It has been 16 years since the Hill were last in Ballarat and in the four occasions that they have met in the league, the Reds are still to win with three losses and a draw.

Last weekend the Haymes Red Devils came up short against another state league two premiership contender in Werribee City and again face a stern test, Red Devils coach Joe Fedele says.

“I’ve seen Clifton Hill twice this season and they are very solid,” Fedele says.

“With the likes of former under-17 Australian international Alex Kiratzoglou and ex-Victorian premier leaguer Fidel Richards pulling the strings in the midfield, they’ll be extremely dangerous going forward and have the class to punish us if we’re not at our best.

“We have a very difficult run of games at present and we face another contender this week in a must-win clash.”

The Red Devils were well organised against the Heart mid- week and will need to do the same again to challenge Clifton Hill, which has won both its matches 2-0 to date.

Ballarat will go into the match largely unchanged from Wednesday night’s encounter, apart from Charlie King’s return after playing a half with the Heart, while Franck Labakohler is serving a suspension following last weekend’s match.

Darryl Newby will resume as the Red Devils’ number one after relinquishing the role in Wednesday’s penalty shoot-out to understudy Jakob McDowell.

In the engine room skipper Josh Romein and Brian Shelley were decent but didn’t get as far forward as they would have liked against Heart.

At the pointy end of the park, the Reds will need to take their chances when they come as Clifton Hill is yet to concede a goal. Adam Newbold and Paul McClounan will have the big job of putting the ball into the net as well as holding the ball up.

“We kept a similar structure on Wednesday night to that employed against Werribee last week, but we made fewer mistakes,” Fedele said.

http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/sport/general/red-devils-face-a-serious-first-test-against-clifton-hill/2136074.aspx