FA Cup Final: Dan Kelly and Sarah Morris both have a shot at glory with Wangaratta

Sarah Morris will run out for Wangaratta's women against Albury Hotspurs from 5pm before her fiance Dan Kelly leads the line for the Devils men's side against Albury United at 7pm.

The pair met back in 2015, with Englishman Kelly only due to spend a few months in Australia before returning home.

However, the centre-forward revealed how a piece of gentle sledging changed his life forever.

"Sarah was playing for the Myrtleford ladies team and it was my first training session," Kelly recalled.

"We finished, they were doing shooting and I walked over.

"She happened to take a shot and it went really wide so I said 'that was terrible.'

"She looked at me and gave me a glare.

"I thought 'I shouldn't have said that' but we started speaking.

"I had a return flight booked for October and if I hadn't met Sarah, I would have been on that plane."

Kelly and Morris raised her son, Mitchell, together from the age of four and now have two other children; two-year-old Penelope and one-year-old Matilda.

"I used to get on a team coach (in the UK) and travel an hour-and-a-half, get on a coach and go back, but here, me and Sarah drive over in the morning and I'm looking after the kids while she's playing," Kelly explained.

"We've got a set-up in the back of the Prado where the girls can lie down and have a sleep and as soon as she's finished her game, it's tag team, she jumps in the car, I go and warm up and she watches me play.

"It works well. Penelope loves it and it's such a warm feeling when I'm playing and all I can hear is 'Daddy, Daddy.'

"It's just a different kind of love as a father and it picks you up."

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Morris, who ran and swam competitively when she was younger, only picked up soccer in her mid-twenties when Myrtleford were short for numbers.

She and Kelly spent two years with Albury City and, following COVID and pregnancies, this is her first full season in the red and black of Wangaratta.

"It's really good to be back," Morris said.

"The girls are still finding their way, we've got a very young group this year so it's been a bit up and down but we've had some really good moments and they're all getting along quite well.

"It's been interesting and challenging (coming back as a new mum), it's hard work but it's definitely worthwhile to do something for myself.

"You can step on the field, forget about things for a bit and then it's back to reality afterwards.

"It's nice to have that little bit of normality and 'me time' as well."

Kelly already has 19 goals to his name this season and his form in front of goal has helped the Devils embark on an eight-match winning run to keep them within a point of league leaders United.

But the former Woking, Aldershot and Guildford marksman sets a high bar.

"You could always do better," Kelly said.

"There's been some games where I've scored two or three goals but I had eight or nine good chances.

"I've been a striker for a long time now, I know what I can do and that's nowhere near it.

"It's probably because of the standard I've played back home and over in America.

"I was 20kg lighter then, so it probably doesn't help that I'm carrying a bit of extra weight but I always think I can do better."

In the week that goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne became a national hero by sending the Socceroos to the World Cup, recent clashes between Wangaratta and United suggest this game, too, could go all the way.

"I don't like penalties," Kelly admitted.

"I should like them as a striker, to build that goal tally up but I missed two in one game last year so that's me done from the spot.

"We want it done before it gets to that. Ideally, we want it done before half-time.

"We've already got one over United this season and if we can beat them again on Saturday, we have no reason not to beat them next time we play them, which could be the decider for the league."

If either cup final is level after 90 minutes, there will be two 10-minute periods of extra-time, with no golden goal, before the prospect of a penalty shootout.

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