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Both PL and PPL Blue Devils teams were given a sharp reminder that there is still a lot of work to do during preseason after they were tamed by NSW Premier League champions Sutherland Sharks on Saturday evening.

In wet conditions on the Seymour Park synthetic pitch, the Sharks who are 10 days from season kick off, produced the type of quality that took them to silverware in NSW's best competition.

In the early game, the PPL Devils overcame a sluggish start and 0-3 half time scoreline to end the game 0-4. The fast moving 20s Sharks really tested the Devils midfield and back line early on, and made it hard for them to get forward to create many chances.
The second half saw a more organised Devils play some good patches of football and gave coach Tony Head a good opportunity to look at some trialling players.

 In the PL match both teams exchanged good play in the first 20mins with each strike line going close on a couple of occasions. On the fast surface both teams were keeping the ball moving and it meant for a high standard of play.
As it went on the fitness of the Sharks players kept the Devils pinned deep in their half and it eventually paid off with a good header from a corner.
Just before half time the Sharks managed another goal from a corner to take a 2-0 lead into half time.

After half time the Sharks put the foot down and within 15minutes had managed another 3 goals from headers while the Devils found it hard going getting a lot of momentum going forward. They came back into it in patches but some more good set pieces rounded off the scoring.

The Devils had many good performers on the night, with strikers Danny Macor and Tai Smith, Matt Valeri in defence, Dustin Wells in midfield and youngsters Jack Blackley and Michael Reeves having excellent games.

Both Devils coaches were happy to play a level of opponent they are unlikely to come up against in the regular season, using it as a guide for where time needs to be spent on the training fields.

The Devils next preseaon friendly is against local Premier League rivals Canberra City on Tuesday night (16/2) at Hawker at 8pm.