Olympic FC 0 - 1 Redlands City Devils

Danny Byrne's 52nd minute strike sealed the win for the Devils, who will meet Brisbane Strikers in next week's all-important clash.

Olympic had numerous chances to equalise, most notably a penalty five minutes from time which was saved by Redlands City Devils 'keeper Mitch O'Brien but had trouble finding fluency after going down to ten men.

Substitute Nzube Okafor was sent off just five minutes after replacing Shane Robinson.

Redlands coach Peter Bannon was ecstatic with the result.

"To come here as the underdogs against a star-studded Olympic side, I think it's a terrific achievement," he said.

"I'm very pleased and very proud of the lads tonight. I thought we defended exceptionally well and we limited them to very few chances".

He noted Byrne's goal and the penalty save as the highlights.

"Terrific save by Mitch (O'Brien) obviously kept us in the game, the goal we scored was a cracker and we possibly should have converted a couple of other chances too".

Bannon was excited about the prospect of playing Brisbane Strikers in the Grand Final. 

"Obviously now we're looking forward to the Grand Final against the Strikers, if we keep playing like this, and we think we can play better, it should be a cracker of a game next week."

Hyundai Queensland State League Preliminary Final Result

Olympic FC 0 - Redlands City Devils 1 (Danny Byrne 52')

Words: Michelle Tobin

Picture: www.offsidephotos.com.au