23/01/10 Vale of Leithen 4-0 Gala Fairydean
Vale progressed to the Second Round of the King Cup after what eventually became a comfortable victory. Although the pitch was certainly playable, the effects of the recent thaw added to the near constant drizzle made underfoot conditions tricky, with the Victoria Park surface cutting up badly. But with Vale away from home for the next few weeks, the pitch willl have plenty of time to recover. Fairydean's Greg Hay rattled the crossbar with a dipping shot in the seventh minute, but it was Vale who took the lead after just over quarter of an hour's play. A powerful shot from the edge of the area by Paul Thomson cannoned off team mate Greig Shortreed and fell kindly for Ger Rossi, who blasted home from close range. It was the visitors who went on to have the better of the first half though, with front two Jamie Gibson and Chris Anderson proving a constant thorn in the side of the Vale defence. Both players slid shots narrowly wide, and just before half time a scramble in the Vale goalmouth saw Gibson hit the post, the rebound fell to Anderson who saw his shot blocked by Vale keeper Mark Wilson and finally a Michael Holness effort was diverted wide. While this was Vale's first competitive game for five weeks, Fairydean's last meaningful action took place at the beginning of November and as the second half wore on it started to show, with Vale starting to take a firm grip on things. A re-shuffle saw Scott Moffat and Steven Dongo introduced upfront, while Aaron Somerville moved back to a deeper position and it paid dividends in the 74th minute as Dongo beat the offside trap to run on and make no mistake. Moffat added a third three minutes later, running on to a long ball and rounding keeper Scott Lumsden as Fairydean appealed in vain for offside. In the final minute Moffat grabbed another, again disputed by the Gala men, but the substitute was played onside by Colin Riddle standing in the left back position as Somerville launched the ball his way and Moffat ran on to shoot beyond Lumsden.
Vale of Leithen: Mark Wilson; Gavin Tainsh, Paul Lee, Michael Stewart, Paul Thomson, Paul Greenhill, Ousman Sonko, John Hall (Steven Dongo 71), Geri Rossi (Scott Moffat 61), Greig Shortreed (Andy Martin h-t), Aaron Somerville.
Gala Fairydean: Scott Lumsden; Greg Hay (Des Sutherland 74), Colin Riddle, Paul Hossack, John Waldie, Kyle Collins, Michael Holness, Paul Young, Jamie Gibson (Billy Miller 85), Chris Anderson, Liam Hardie (Ross Glass 67).
Referee: Michael Scott.
• Vale will now travel to meet Easthouses Lily in the Second Round of the King Cup, a game which will take place at Newbattle Complex on Saturday February 13th.

16/01/10 Vale of Leithen v Gala Fairydean - Match Postponed
With snow still covering the Victoria Park pitch, the King Cup First Round tie against Gala Fairydean was postponed today. Next week's scheduled league meeting between the sides at the same venue has now been put back to later in the season as the sides will attempt to play the cup tie again next Saturday.

14/01/10 Training's A Beach
While club officials are sure that Victoria Park is still there somewhere under all that white stuff, Vale players have been hitting the beach. But it's not been a case of building sand-castles and topping up their tans. Portobello beach in Edinburgh has been the venue for recent training sessions as manager Rab Paget and coaches Stewart Churchill, Stuart Gray and Davie McGinley have been keeping the players fitness levels up during the recent weather enforced lay-off from action. Even then, Peeblesshire-based players Aaron Somerville, Mark Wilson, Andy Martin, Greig Shortreed and Geri Rossi have experienced difficulty making it up from the Borders due to road conditions, but were praised by Paget in the local press. "There's never a moan from any of them - their commitment has been first class," he told Peeblesshire News. Meanwhile, as we wait patiently for the thaw to set in, here are some pictures from a recent session. (Click on the images to see full-size)

"Oh we do like to be beside the seaside..."

Enthusiasm for training in sub-zero temperatures is written all over the faces of this group of players...

John and Gav attempt to sneak off unnoticed as the ice cream van arrives on the promenade...

Stevie changes into his beachwear as his team mates convince him that this is actually summer in Scotland...

09/01/10 Peebles v Vale of Leithen - Match Postponed
In what must be the most unsurprising news posted on this - or any other - website, Vale's scheduled East of Scotland League First Division meeting with Peebles has been postponed. After a week which has seen the heaviest snowfall of a generation, the Borders have been hit particularly hard, with temperatures as low as -17c, many towns and villages cut off, homes left without electricity and virtually all public transport suspended. In the context of that, football was never realistically going to happen this weekend, with every East of Scotland fixture wiped out.....and with the big freeze set to continue, Vale sceduled match at home to Gala Fairydean in the First Round of the King Cup next Saturday could probably be considered unlikely already.