SUBSTITUTE Cooper Page made the most of his chance with a super strike in injury time to give Albury City the points at Jelbart Park yesterday.
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With the lights on and scores locked at 2 all with Twin City Wanderers, a perfect through ball put Page in the clear with only the keeper to beat.
Page, who mixes footy with soccer, made no mistake in just his second appearance in the top grade, off the bench.
It was effectively the last kick of the game.
Albury City coach Matt Maw said it was a fantastic game.
“It had everything. The ball in the second half went from end to end and both had a chance to win,” he said.
“It was an excellent game where teams wanted to win it. It’s good for the competition when teams go out to win rather than park the bus.
“Last week we got hit with the sucker punch in the 90th minute against Wodonga Diamonds doing exactly that.”
With scores at 1-1 at the break, Paddy Brown scored for City with a perfectly hit left footer curling beyond Wanderers keeper Rohan Pearce in the first five minutes of the second half.
But when Twin City’s Josh Zito chested a long ball and then volleyed into the net, scores were again locked at 2-2.
Both keepers made make desperate saves, including Pearce stopping a well-struck penalty from Aaron Gough.
Maw praised his charges after changes at half-time.
“Trent Duffy came on to replace the injured Paris Maw and we didn’t lose a thing,” he said.
“I thought Christo Sharp at left back was great, Paddy Brown’s strike — a first-time hit was awesome and Cooper, when he came on, caused all sorts of headaches.
“Page only returned to the club a few weeks back and has been scoring plenty of goals in thirds. He came off the bench last week and again today.”
Maw said it was good to get back on the winners’ list after three losses in four weeks.
“It is an indication of how close the competition is with six or seven sides capable of beating the others on any given day,” he said.
“We played well last week — as well — but just didn’t get the reward.”
The Wangaratta hoodoo at Savoy Park continued with the Red Devils playmaker Elliott Jones red carded early in the first half when they were already trailing 1-0.
Myrtleford added a second inside 20 minutes and held that advantage for the 90 minutes to make it 11 years since Wangaratta has won in the Ovens Valley.
Savoy coach Joe Artavilla said they had shown a new-found depth to win against the ladder leaders, despite missing Nathan Mirt and Steve Ilic.
“We have a great squad and today they really stood up against one of the top sides,” he said.
“Matt Park, who has played in Scotland, walked into the club a few weeks back and has been a great addition — he scored one and Dan Kelly got the other. It was a great team effort.
“The standouts were Brenton Cook and Jayden Vescio.”