Albury made it four wins on the trot as they continue to surge towards a finals position.
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The Steamers' 31-24 win over Wagga City really opened up the battle for the reduced number of finals positions as the halfway point of the season approaches.
Albury are now just a point behind Tumut and five behind Wagga City in fifth place.
Coach Paul Musarra thought it was an important win.
"It was huge," Mussara said.
"If we didn't win this one then we'd need to import six very good footballers and go undefeated.
"It was an important win for sure and we are building with a certain style and structure."
Albury got off to the perfect start when Sam Allen scored in the opening exchanges.
Wagga City responded through coach James Curgenven midway through the half before a try to Liam Krautz just on half-time handed the visitors a 15-7 lead at Conolly Rugby Complex on Saturday.
Ryan O'Sullivan then scored minutes into the second half but Wagga City kept fighting back.
Trevor William responded minutes later to cut the margin back to seven points.
Tom Boyle then juggled the ball over the line to score before successive Blake Le Cornu saw Albury head out to a 31-14 lead.
Despite having Rory Sheard yellow carded, Curgeven closed the gap with his second before sustaining a knee injury.
Wagga City had a number of chances to score an important fourth try late but Albury were able to hold out three pushover attempts from scrums to take an important five points.
Their scrum really improved throughout the game however Mussara believes there is plenty of things the side needs to work on despite successive wins over top four opponents.
"With our execution it leaves us with a lot of work to do," he said.
"I wasn't happy with our execution, I was happy with the result, but not a lot of the other stuff we did."
Meanwhile Griffith moved into sixth place after a 62-19 win over CSU to take home the Ben Groat Cup.
However the Blacks had to overcome a fired up Reddies outfit in the first half.
Scores were locked at 14-all late in the first half before Griffith kicked into another gear to extend CSU's winless start to the season.
Jack Glyde crossed for a hat-trick.
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