Ressie Devils prepare for the semis

The Albury Wodonga Football Association finals series are here, and Wangaratta City FC still has three squads rolling into this weekend’s semi-finals. Alongside the under 12 boys Black and under 16 boys teams, the division two men will continue in their quest for silverware. The ressie Devils finished the home and away season third on the ladder, and sailed through the quarter finals with a 2-1 win over Wodonga Diamonds on Sunday. They’ll come up against Albury United at Savoy Park on Saturday afternoon to continue their campaign. The Devils were supposed to play Cobram Roar, who defeated United in their quarter final clash before Cobram's senior and reserve men’s teams were disqualified over fielding ineligible players. United has held the wood over Wangaratta so far in the reserve men’s competition, taking wins 5-2 and 4-3 in the regular season, but Devils coach Vitaly Leschen said those past results were no indicator of how this weekend will play out. “Personally I don’t read too much into those results,” he said. “Momentum is key, and I think momentum is one of those things that goes up and down during a season. “In a semi-final, if the boys aren’t up for a fight, we’ve got major issues, so they’ll be well and truly up for it. “They [Albury United] are very good, they’ve got some ex-senior players who are very good up top – to be fair to them, they’re very good everywhere. “It will be a very hard game, we need to work on a couple of things that have hurt us in the last few weeks, and if we get those right, I have no doubt the boys have the quality to get it done.” Despite the challenge in front of them, enthusiasm and spirits remain high at South Wangaratta ahead of the must-win showdown. “The energy’s good, we had our biggest turnout of the team all year [on Tuesday],” Leschen said. “The outcome on the weekend will probably be determined by our older boys who have been around, like Lachie Campbell, Joel Van Der Leeuw, Connor Delaney, Dave Mollison, Jaume Perez. “Those boys need to shoulder a lot of the responsibility and get the young boys in the right headspace and across the line. “It’ll be a very good game, we’ll see what happens.” The reserve men take to the pitch in their semi-final at Savoy Park, Myrtleford, on Saturday, 30 August from 4pm. The under 16 boys are in action against Wodonga Heart from 9am on the Saturday, while the under 12 Black team take on Cobram Roar Yellow from 10.10am.

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