After months of hard work, it’s finally here – and the Albury Wodonga Football Association finals leave no room for error. The senior Myrtleford Savoy side qualified for the postseason in second position with 15 wins, three losses and two draws, the second of which was a 2-2 deadlock against Wodonga Diamonds on Sunday. Scott Peggie (24’) and Connor Caponecchia (71’) hit the scoreboard, but the side conceded goals in the 44th and 81st to see scores level at the end of the 90 minutes. The Sunday match capped off a blockbuster three match stretch in the span of a week for Savoy, with their midweek match against also Wangaratta City ending in a 1-1 draw. “We were keeping our powder dry for finals, but we still wanted to get a result,” Savoy coach Jayden Vescio said. “We had a bit of a cautious approach heading into Sunday – we had three changes heading into the Wednesday, and three or four changes after that. “We managed things quite well knowing that once we got that draw on Wednesday, there was a chance [of winning the league] but it was more of an eye on the week after. “Diamonds was a bit of a weird one, and it was the same as Wednesday night. “We came out and lacked ruthlessness in our from third, then conceded a pretty poor goal right on half-time, we were just going through the paces in the second half. “We got in front, we made a couple of changes, Brenton [Cook] was just on managed minutes. “It was a bit of a weird situation, but much like on Wednesday, we just weren’t ruthless enough in front of goals, so we’ve got to sharpen that up this week.” With two draws in as many matches heading into the cutthroat knockout finals series, Savoy will need to ice games and emphatically win in order to advance. Savoy will launch into their finals campaign this Sunday from 3.30pm at Kelly Park, once more taking on Wangaratta City, the seventh-ranked side. “We just need to do what we did on Wednesday night for the first 45 minutes, we need to be able to do that for 90 and capitalise on chances,” Vescio said. “We didn’t capitalise on five or six clear-cut chances [against Wangaratta last time], and then I the second half, Gleeso [Wangaratta goalie Nathan Gleeson] made a couple of unbelievable saves, and they snatched a point with the last kick of the day. “You can’t have that in finals - we’ve got a pretty experienced bunch who know that, so I’d expect a response.”
