WAGGA City Wanderers are one step closer to playing finals football after exacting revenge on Canberra White Eagles on Saturday.
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The White Eagles have proven somewhat of a bogey team for the Wanderers but Wagga City got one back in front of a strong home crowd at Gissing Oval.
Two goals each to Jacob Ochieng and Morris Kadzola helped the Wanderers to a 4-3 victory, a win that sits them in fourth and four points clear of their nearest rivals with six rounds remaining.
Wanderers coach Dave Leonard was thrilled with another brilliant team performance.
"Just their ability to keep going hard," Leonard said.
"We went down 1-0, it was a really sloppy goal, there was nothing nice about it and sometimes that can take its toll but the boys hung in and hung in and Ochieng was able to score a couple and then Morris in the second half.
"It was bloody super, the team's really gelling together and working hard for each other so it's a coaches dream at the moment."
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The White Eagles struck first with Cuneyt Caglar finding the back of the net in the 20th minute.
Ochieng then took control with two goals in the space of four minutes putting the Wanderers in the driving seat at 2-1.
Eventually the White Eagles drew level with Kenrick Beuth scoring in the 74th minute to tie the scores at 2-2.
It was then Kadzola's turn to stand up as he scored twice in five minutes, once from the penalty spot, to guide the Wanderers home to their fourth straight victory.
Zac Lawrence got one back in the 90th minute for the White Eagles but they ran out of time soon enough, going down 4-3.
The Wanderers front four was outstanding, headed by Ochieng, with the likes of Tom Matheson, Kadzola and Jake Ploenges all combining for some brilliant attack.
Others to shine were Samson Lucas and Alvaro Kelechi.
Leonard puts the Wanderers' current streak down to confidence, hard work and good football.
"A lot of those little things are making a difference," he said.
"Definitely belief, the only team we haven't beaten in the top four is Queanbeyan now, and both times we played them we believe we could have got something out of it and probably deserved something out of it so there's still that belief.
"I think the boys are keen to get amongst it against them as well and are happy to keep coming and putting the results in our own hands. As the pressure builds the boys keep tending to respond so it's bloody awesome.
"I've always said, they're such a close group and I think that's key too."
Four points clear of fifth, the Wanderers now face the winless Weston Molonglo in Canberra next Saturday. The week after it's Yoogali, who only sit one spot ahead of Weston Molonglo.
"The bottom line is because it's so darn tight, you just have to keep collecting points. Even a point, you've got to keep collecting them," Leonard said.
"It's a cliche but you're playing someone like Weston Molonglo where you're expected to win and all of a sudden they're up for the day and you're in a huge contest that you don't want to be in and you find yourself in a spot of bother. I probably get more nervous, to be honest, playing those guys then I do the Tuggies and the Queanbeyan because no one's expecting us to win and when you get a great result everyone just goes 'wow', but when you get beaten by teams that everyone's expecting you to beat then it puts everything out of balance.
"They're crucial games, so again, just to get points is extremely important, but the boys are talking wins, I let them do most of that talking.
"It's cliche but we say to them, it's week in week out now and every week we play it's our most important game but that's the way it has been for the last month. Now it's because we've put ourselves in that position to be playing finals footy, it's in our own hands with one round to go, there's no reason why we can't be playing finals footy and to have thought that, six, seven weeks ago, no one gave us a bloody chance."
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