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Vale's postponement misery continued with this evening's league
match falling foul of the weather as heavy rain hammered Innerleithen
and the surrounding area all day, leading to a waterlogged
pitch. This has unfortunately compounded the busy end of season
schedule, with Vale playing four games in eight days this
coming week. Following from the trip to Peebles on Saturday,
Victoria Park will play host to the King Cup Second Round
tie against Hawick Royal Albert on Tuesday 6th May, and league
fixtures against Gala Fairydean on Thursday 8th and Ormiston
on Saturday 10th. Should Vale overcome the Royalists on Tuesday,
we will face Heriot-Watt University at home in the Quarter
Final stage. There are also league fixtures at Civil Service
Strollers and Tynecastle, plus the rescheduling of tonight's
game to fit in before the curtain comes down on the season.
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Vale completed their double-header against Kelso United by
claiming three league points at Victoria Park, but the most
pleasing thing from Vale's point of view was not so much the
win, rather the manner in which it was achieved. The Innerleithen
side went into the game with a few fitness problems. Scott
Johnston was missing through illness and both Colin Smith
and Creag Robertson had to pass fitness tests, while there
was a scare before kick off as Ronald Fleming went over on
his ankle during the warm-up. As expected, Kelso were fired
up for the game after Tuesday's King Cup exit, and Chris Baillie
and Michael Bremner had early chances as the visitors got
off to a good start. But Vale took the lead in the 23rd minute,
as Ryan McManus won a battle for the ball with Leighton Henderson
and squared for Greig Shortreed to shoot home. On the half-hour
mark it was two as Robbie Clark launched a ball forward for
Aaron Somerville to finish emphatically. Eight minutes into
the second half Somerville notched his second and Vale's third
as Ross McManus went on a mazy run into the penalty area.
It looked like the left-back would go for the finish himself,
but he unselfishly elected to slip the ball to Somerville,
who blasted home. Working on the theory that the opposition
can't harm you if they don't have the ball, Vale played some
excellent possession football, with some of the passing a
delight to watch. It could well have been a repeat of Tuesday's
scoreline as a Raymond Fleming drive bounced back off the
post, while Kelso's Chris Black was unlucky to see a shot
come back off the bar.
Vale of Leithen: Mark Wilson; Ronald Fleming (Colin Smith
h-t), Ross McManus, Creag Robertson, Campbell Forsyth, Robbie
Clark (Mike MacKale 60), Ryan McManus, Steven Notman, Greig
Shortreed, Aaron Somerville, Raymond Fleming.
Kelso United: Elliot Turnbull, Steven Tait, Paul Dumma, Leighton
Henderson, Derek Burnett, Josh Hebdon, Michael Bremner (Jamie
Wright 37), Darren Gillon, Gary Mabon (Mike Pentland 60),
Chris Black, Chris Baillie.
Referee: John McMurray.
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Vale eased through to the Second Round of the King Cup after
a comfortable victory over Kelso United. The damage was done
in the first half as Kelso got off to a sluggish start and
found themselves two down, thanks to a quick-fire double from
Colin Smith. In the 16th minute Smith slotted home after a
nice passing move involving Aaron Somerville and Raymond Fleming
cut open the United defence and Fleming laid the ball into
Smith's path. 60 seconds later, a cross from Ross Alexander
found Smith at the back post and the midfielder volleyed home.
Kelso were forced into a change in the 27th minute as Graham
Kellington suffered an injury and Chris Tait came on to replace
him. Further misery was piled on the visitors as Kelso keeper
Elliot Turnbull could only parry a Somerville shot, and Ryan
McManus followed up to net. It had been a muted performance
by Kelso in the first half, but they were much improved after
the break and pulled themselves back into things in the 66th
minute when marksman Chris Black powerfully headed home a
Mike Pentland cross. Perhaps recalling their tremendous fightback
in the league game between the sides back in January, Vale
found themselves on the back foot for a while as United pressed
forward, but their hopes of pulling the tie back suffered
a blow eight minutes from time as Greig Shortreed ran on to
a Ross McManus defence-splitting pass and squared for substitute
Mike MacKale to touch home.
Vale of Leithen:Mark Wilson; Ross Alexander, Ross McManus,
Creag Robertson, Campbell Forsyth, Robbie Clark (Steven Notman
70), Ryan McManus (Mike MacKale 70), Colin Smith, Greig Shortreed,
Aaron Somerville, Raymond Fleming.
Kelso United: Elliot Turnbull, Paul Dumma, Gary Mabon, Leighton
Henderson, Graham Kellington (Chris Tait 27), Josh Hebden,
Mike Pentland, Darren Gillon, Chris Black, Chris Baillie,
Craig Edwards.
• Vale now meet Hawick Royal Albert at home in the King
Cup Second Round.
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Today's league fixture at Marine Drive had to be called off
due to a burst water main at the Civl Service Sportsground,
which had resulted in the clubhouse and changing rooms being
rendered unusable and the entire building closed. Hopefully
the damage to the club's superb facilities is not severe and
Vale will look forward to visiting in the coming weeks to
replay the game.
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Apologies for the lack of updates during the last couple of
weeks, with the site even going back in time at one point!
This was due to technical issues surrounding the migration
of the site to another hosting server. These have now been
fully resolved and we are now happily in our new home, which
is on a 'cluster' of servers, which will not only ensure that
we will not go offline in the event of essential maintenance
on the server, but should improve download speeds as well.
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An early goal from Paul Devlin was enough to claim the points
for Peebles in this fiercely contested derby, which provided
a lot of entertainment for the large crowd gathered at Victoria
Park. Although the pitch was certainly playable, there was
a lot of give on the sodden turf and the lack of bounce caught
players out on many occasions. Peebles made the better start
to the game and went ahead in the 12th minute as Vale keeper
Mark Wilson could only parry a Kerr Dodds shot into the path
of Devlin, who made no mistake from a few yards out. Veteran
striker Glen Harley almost added to the lead a short time
later as he met a Devlin corner, but his effort drifted just
wide. Having been second best in most respects during the
first half, Vale started the second a team transformed. With
Greig Shortreed on for Mike MacKale, the pace and movement
of the Vale front two of Somerville and Shortreed caused no
end of problems for the visitors defence. But despite Vale
piecing together some good moves, chances for Colin Smith
and Ryan McManus failed to find the target, while a Shortreed
shot blocked by Peebles keeper Darren Walker fell kindly for
Raymond Fleming following up, but the midfielder skied his
effort over the bar. Wilson came off his line smartly to block
what would have been Devlin's second, but it was the Innerleithen
side who were having most of the play and Walker had to look
sharp to deny Ryan McManus as time stated to run out for Vale.
With taking something from the game vital to preserve Vale's
interest in the promotion race, injury time saw Wilson leave
his goal to come up for a corner, but no breakthrough was
forthcoming and the result means that Vale will be plying
their trade in the First Division again next season.
Vale of Leithen: Mark Wilson; Ross Alexander (Scott Johnston
66), Ross McManus, Craeg Robertson, Campbell Forsyth, Ronald
Fleming, Colin Smith, Raymond Fleming, Mike MacKale (Greig
Shortreed h-t), Aaron Somerville (Robbie Clark 86), Ryan McManus.
Peebles: Darren Walker; Gavin Tainsh, Aaron Paterson, Paul
Greenhill, Kevin Robertson, Kerr Dodds, Andrew Martin (Gareth
Thom 62), Michael Osbourne, Glen Harley (Andrzej Szczesniak
69), Paul Devlin, Mark Brown (Chris Graham 84).
Referee: Andy Rooney.
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Heavy rain across the region put paid to this King Cup First
Round tie, along with a number of other games in the East
of Scotland fixture card.
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Vale claimed a good three points in tricky conditions at Warner
Park. As well as each other, both sides had to battle against
the elements as well, as a strong wind carried the ball as
soon as it left the ground. A sharp gust was largely responsible
for an Alan Hutchison cross bouncing off the bar in the early
stages, but Vale hit the woodwork themselves shortly after
as a Ryan McManus shot struck the upright. The Fishermen were
denied by the bar again early in the second half, this time
when a James Wilson drive came back off the underside, but
Vale keeper Mark Wilson managed to claim the ball as a number
of United players looked to follow up. The only goal of the
game came in the 56th minute as a ball from Campbell Forsyth
found auxilliary forward Colin Smith unmarked in the area,
and he headed beyond Adam Stobbart. Despite the weather, both
sides made a decent game of it, with Ryan McManus again going
close and Mike MacKale warming Stobbart's hands with a shot.
Eyemouth's Carl Hudson hit the side netting, but Vale were
mopping up the home side's attacks fairly comfortably. Even
so, it took a fanatastic save from Wilson to preserve Vale's
lead in the dying minutes. United substitute Andrew Patterson
couldn't have hit his shot from the edge of the area any better,
but could only look on in disbelief as Wilson produced a stunning
reflex save to divert the ball wide.
Eyemouth United:Adam Stobbart; Carl Hudson, John Buchan, Alan
Hutchison, Michael Wales (David Lough 63), Darren Flannigan,
Alan Speirs, James Wilson, Andrew Sword, John Dougal (Andrew
Patterson 79), Duncan Aitchison (Liam Gibson 88).
Vale of Leithen: Mark Wilson; Ross Alexander (Robbie Clark
71), Ross McManus, Creag Robertson, Campbell Forsyth, Ronald
Fleming, Colin Smith, Scott Johnston, Mike MacKale, Ryan McManus,
Raymond Fleming.
Referee: Ian Bristow.
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