Lady Devils one step closer as finals loom

Wangaratta City FC's senior women's side has snuck into the top eight with one match left in the regular season after a stirring 3-0 triumph against Albury United on the road. Taking on United at Jelbart Park with their season on the line, the Lady Devils were brimming with confidence, and their hunger was on display early. It took just 21 minutes before Wangaratta hit the lead through a superb strike from Ella Antonello, with the Lady Devils heading into the break up 1-0 thanks to some sterling defensive work. With momentum behind them, the Lady Devils stepped it up a notch, securing two second-half goals while maintaining a clean sheet to propel them into finals contention. The win was almost a mirror image of Wangaratta’s first match with United, 1-3 back in round three, and demonstrates just how much this group has improved over the season. Senior coach Raul Pahina was understandably pleased with the result. “It was good to get redemption against Albury United,” he said. “The preparation was good, we’ve been working on a formation change to help us score more goals because we’ve been struggling to score goals. “We changed to a 4-4-2 which seems to be really working for us. “Our prep was working on our positioning for that formation, and coming into the game all of the girls were super confident and super excited to be experimenting with something a little bit different, and it paid off. “When we went into half-time at 1-0, I think it was the first time this year that our team had the belief that we were going to continue to score goals, they were full of confidence at half-time and it showed in the second half when we went out and put another two past them, and just dominated.” The win sees the Lady Devils leapfrog United into eighth on the ladder, two points ahead with one match left to play. Wangaratta will need to beat top-placed Albury Hotspurs this weekend or – more realistically – hope Cobram Roar knock over United to guarantee a finals berth. Meanwhile, the senior men secured a stunning upset win over the fourth-placed United in the dying stages of the match. A header from Pahina in the 89th minute, in his first match back since a May injury, was enough to put the Devils 2-1 up at full time. The Devils are closing the gap on the rest of the division one men's ladder, and could finish as high as sixth heading into finals.

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