An understrength Wangaratta City fell to Wodonga Diamonds 1-2 on Sunday in a result which makes the back end of the year that much harder.

With at least five starting players sidelined with injuries, the Devils had to call on their younger players to step up to the senior level, with Go Ashby and Hamish Gasser making their division one debuts.

It was far from the ideal start, with the Devils looking lethargic and at times vulnerable against the second-bottom ranked Diamonds.

While it took a while to work into the game, Wangaratta found the first goal of the game through Jacob Saunders, who capitalised on a chance in the 33rd minute.

The Devils were ahead at half-time, but Diamonds could sense a scalp.

A defensive error in the 49th minute resulted in a Wangaratta own goal, equalising and giving Diamonds a sniff.

Ultimately, Wodonga’s Daniel Kayembe found the breakthrough in the 92nd minute to break Wangaratta hearts.

Devils coach Vitaly Leschen said their mentality was lacking early.

“It’s not an unfortunate result when you don’t rock up to the game,” he said.

“The boys were just not at the races, we started off very slowly, very complacent.

“When we are there, we can compete with the best teams in the league, but the reality is we don’t have that individual quality across the pitch we can lean of if we don’t turn up to games.

“Some teams in the league are more experienced than us who have built for longer than us, and probably have the ability to have these off days and go through the gears.

“Hopefully this is the lesson from this weekend – we as a team need to rock up every week if we want to get points every week.

“If we’re happy yo-yoing up and down in performances, then that’s the decision we’ll make, but I’m not happy with it, the boys I know aren’t happy with it.

“The lesson is if you don’t rock up with the intent to go and win the game and the intent to work hard, these are the results we’re going to cop.”

Despite the loss, Leschen said there were plenty of positives to take from the match, in particular the performances of the next generation of players coming through the senior ranks.

“I was very pleased for Go and Hamish,” he said.

“Particularly with Go, it was his first game in senior football and I was very happy with the way he performed.

“He has a confidence about himself and he wanted to get on the ball, wanted to involve himself on the ball and try and influence the game, and at the end of the day that was the message to him.

“The message was to go and enjoy football for 90 minutes, don’t let the pressures of senior football get to you, just play your game, and the responsibility will be shouldered by the boys around.

“Jacob [Saunders] throughout the year has been one of the standouts.

“His effort and relentlessness are key cogs in our team.

“In what was an off day across the pitch, Jacob was still a constant threat down the left and popped up a goal to put us ahead.”

The senior Devils sit dead middle of the table, and will take the bye this weekend, with five matches left to play before finals.

In other matches, the reserves banked a 4-0 win, while the thirds fought out a scoreless draw.