The depth of the senior squad will be tested in coming weeks, following a nightmare match with Melrose FC on Sunday.

The Devils sustained three injuries in their 3-1 loss at Melrose Park, further adding to their growing injury list.

After Melrose scored in the 13th minute, Wangaratta’s Jamie Roban was subbed off with shin splints for Ashley Primerano, who promptly equalised.

However, the good times couldn’t last, with Primerano reaggravating his existing leg injury, and Lachlan Campbell subbed out with concussion.

The trio joins veterans Raul Pahina and Stoycho Ivanov on the sidelines for the next few weeks.

Coach Vitaly Leschen said while the growing injury list wasn’t ideal, it was part and parcel with competitive sport.

“They were all just sporting injuries, each one was just unlucky or just occurred, nothing against Melrose,” he said.

“It’s obviously not ideal in terms of the time of year, but we have plenty of boys in the thirds and reserves who are well and truly deserving of the opportunity and testing themselves at a higher level, so it will open up the door for a couple of young boys to step into the team.

“Hopefully they demonstrate how good of a player they are in the next couple weeks while we work through these injuries – you never know, maybe they make the most of the opportunity and make it hard for me when the so-called senior boys do come back.”

Leschen said they didn’t make the most of their chances, which the better teams will punish anyone for.

“In the first half we went out and took the game to them, I thought we were on top of them early,” he said.

“They scored a goal on the break against the run of play and we responded really quickly, which is good.

“We had probably three or four opportunities to go into the half at least 2-1 up, probably more, but we didn’t take them.

“It’s probably another lesson for the boys about the difficulties of senior soccer.

“When you’re on top of the game and have three, four clear-cut chances, if you don’t take those chances, it’s probably going to come back to bite you later in the match, which is what happened on the weekend.

“We move forward, take it on the chin, and refocus – hopefully come finals we can turn some of these results around.”