In surprisingly dry conditions, the Magpies put a week of chaos behind them under new coach Brendan Cairns to lead by one point at the 12-minute mark of the final quarter.

But there was no fairytale ending as the reigning premier rallied by kicking the final four goals of the match to remain undefeated with Wodonga after three rounds.

Tiger co-coach Daniel Maher said Wangaratta had dished up what he expected.

“Wangaratta really had a crack and played some good footy,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be tough with a new coach coming in and I guess the pleasing thing for us was the way we responded in the final quarter.

“It was good to come away with a win because we were under a lot of pressure.”

Wangaratta started the match in sensational fashion as it raced to a 16-point lead at quarter-time with midfielders Matt Kelly and Jamie Allan winning plenty of the ball.

Jamie Anderson had a strong match on Setanta O’hAilpin, while veteran Judd Porter led a young backline superbly.

But Albury was able to put some wasted opportunities behind it to finish full of running through the class of Dean Polo, Brayden O’Hara and Joel Mackie.

Kieran Ellis continued his strong start to the season in defence, while Luke Packer and Aisake O’hAilpin also turned in good performances.

Cairns said Albury’s ability to win the clearances proved telling.

“They got on top in the midfield and won some big clearances,” he said.

“That hurt us in the finish.”