Devils preparing for back end of season

Wangaratta City will have to front up to three games in the space of seven days and perform if they want to solidify their spot in finals. It’s a busy time for the division one men’s side, who will take on fourth-placed Albury City this weekend, ninth-placed St Pat’s on Wednesday, and ladder leaders Myrtleford Savoy on 13 July. Despite sitting seventh overall with a 4-7-1 record, the energy within the squad is electric, with motivation burning bright in the depths of winter. The senior side has banked two wins on the trot and will be coming off the bye, while the reserves are flying through the season, sitting third overall. “I think there’s a general energy around the club that the whole squad’s all feeding off, which is a benefit,” senior coach Vitaly Leschen said. “It’s probably beneficial to the boys to have a week off and recover. “This weekend we’ve got Rhett Martin coming back from a thigh injury and a busy work schedule – he’ll come in for ‘Juzzy’ [Justin Cirillo] who’s strained or done his hammy. “The good thing is the twos are up there and fighting for the league now, with a couple of teams dropping points above. “They’re highly motivated and the ones, even though we’re not having the same season, the numbers at training are still good and the environment at training’s still good. “It’s now got to the point where it’s player-driven which is good to see, the players want to be there and see each other.” The last time the Devils took on City, a disastrous period in the second half saw Wangaratta downed 2-8, but Leschen said the side had grown a lot since the encounter. “They well and truly got us in the first game,” he said. “If you look back at that game, I think it was 3-2 or 2-2 in the 60th minute, and we just did what we’ve done a couple of times during the year and just collapsed in the last 30 or collapse for a 30-minute period in the game. “We’ve come a long way in that regard as a team, I don’t think we have those collapses for that period of time in us anymore. “We’re still a developing team, so we might collapse for five minutes here or there, but I do not expect we’ll cop a result like that. “I’d much rather see either a tight loss or going in with a bit of confidence that we could nag a result off them.” Wangaratta City take on Albury City at Jelbart Park East this Sunday, 6 July, with the senior men’s match from 3pm and the reserves from 1.10pm. The division one and two women have the bye.

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