It took a harrowing quarter final defeat to spell the end of the road for Wangaratta City’s division one men’s team in their quest for silverware. Taking on a red-hot Myrtleford Savoy at Kelly Park in the first round of their finals campaign, with Devils fell to pieces in the second half, succumbing to a 1-6 defeat at the hands of their rivals. The Devils knew their best bet against a strong Myrtleford side would be to take a defensive mindset into the match, and deny Savoy any easy early goals. The plan was working well at the midway point of the match, with the scoreboard sitting inert at 0-0 at half-time, but the floodgates were about to crash open. Wangaratta gave away a penalty in the 50th minute, which was converted by Myrtleford’s Tom Morrison, before rapid goals to Jack Milford and a second to Morrison in the space of 10 minutes had Wangaratta reeling at 0-3 down. Another penalty in the 68th added more pain and put the game essentially beyond the Devils, with a 74th minute consolation goal from Luke Simian the only balm on a challenging day on the pitch. A late brace came from Myrtleford super sub Angel Taravillo (79’, 89’), and just like that, it was all over. Coach Vitaly Leschen said it was a disappointing way to bow out of an otherwise strong season. “It was 0-0 at half-time and everything was going to plan, we were pretty much trying to rinse and repeat what we did a couple of weeks back,” he said. “But then it was just a crazy first 10-15 minutes of the second half, and when you play quality teams like Myrtleford, a crazy 15 minutes is enough to put the game to bed. “It was 0-3 by the 60th minute, and at that point you know the game’s gone, really – I’d love to say at 0-3 we could come back, but when you set up the way we set up, which was to contain their scoring opportunities and see the game into the later period of the match and decide it then, it is very difficult mentally when you cop three goals in 10 minutes to bounce back.” Leschen said the young squad had grown immensely over the course of the season. “We have up to seven players who are under the age of 20 who are key members of our team, be that starting or coming off the bench, they’re fantastic players and the year will be fantastic for their development and experience,” he said. “Whatever they do next year, whether it’s with us or down in Melbourne or a different location, I think it’ll give them a good opportunity to go and become better footballers. “They are young kids, we are a young squad, and I think we’ve had a very good year for what we are – I don’t think at times we had the year we could’ve had, but that’s football at senior level.” Wangaratta City FC will still have a presence in finals into the second week – the under 16 boys, under 12 boys A, under 14 boys B, division two men and division two women all won their quarter finals.
