The talent present at Wangaratta City FC is starting to catch the attention of the league following the Devils’ stunning 1-0 win over 2025 league grand finalists Albury Hotspurs on Sunday.

Taking to the field at Aloysius Park against a quality side, it was the Devils who would strike first, with the talented Fraser D’Agostino going head-to-head with the ‘Spurs goalie and nailing the finish.

From there, Wangaratta controlled ball possession and defended hard for the best part of an hour to ice the win, an admirable achievement given they were down to 10 men for the last 10 minutes.

Coach Vitaly Leschen said to knock off such a respected team was a huge sign his charges were improving rapidly.

“It was a really good win, I’m very happy to get the result,” he said.

“We came out with a plan of taking the game to them in the first 30 minutes, and the first 30 minutes was a really good game of football from both teams.

“I don’t think they had too many opportunities but we didn’t have too many opportunities either.

“I don’t particularly like to park the bus, but when you’ve got Nathan Gleeson, Stoycho [Ivanov], Lorenzo [Cecchini], Brodie [Tyres], Lachy Campbell as your backline, it’s a very solid backline.

“Our strength is we’ve got a lot of young boys scattered across the pitch in Jacob [Saunders], Ash [Primerano], Fraser [D’Agostino], Jack Whiley – those boys are very fit and don’t stop running, they always do the second efforts, so we were just able to make sure they never had any space through the guts.

“They had a couple of half-chances from the top of the box, but they never had a full-blown one-on-one or guaranteed goal.

“The boys stuck in, they knew what they needed to do and did it, so credit to them.”

While the result was a positive one for the squad, it didn’t come without cost.

The Devils will be without young star Jacob Saunders this weekend after receiving yellow cards in the 43rd and 80th minute, forcing a mandatory one-week stint on the sidelines.

“It was probably a bit harsh, the first yellow card he copped and maybe even the second, but it’s a bit of a good lesson for him,” Leschen said.

“He’d been rinsing his opponent all game, the tackle was frustration on the opponent’s end, and it could’ve been an opportunity for him to understand he was on top but he reacted and got a yellow.

“That’s a learning curve, that’s what happens with these young boys – that sounds negative, but Jacob has been one of our best players all year and he’s actually very important to how we play, so missing him this weekend does hurt us a lot but I’m sure come Cobram he’ll be back and raring to go.”

The win sees the Devils leap over the Spurs into fifth on the ladder and establishing a nice run of form, with three wins and a draw from their last four matches.

“We know the quality we have, but like I’ve said from the start, it’s just about belief,” Leschen said.

“If you look at the ladder, we could easily be in a position where if we turn a couple of those early results around and we’re further up the ladder.

“It’s just about belief and getting these wins against these higher opponents – the more you get, the more it builds, and the more confidence you have going into the game, the more you’re likely to execute the game plan and work for the person next to you and fight.”

The Devils take on local rivals Myrtleford Savoy at Savoy Park this Sunday.

In other results from the weekend, the reserves went down 0-4 and the thirds lost 0-1.