26/01/08 Vale of Leithen 5-1 Hawick Royal Albert
It was more with relief than joy that Vale celebrated their first victory in three months as their performance at last got the result it deserved against a Royal Albert side who fought all the way, but were ultimately overpowered by Vale's slick football. The Vale team showed one enforced change from last week as Bob Hall came in for suspended keeper Mark Wilson, while there were a couple of tactical changes as player/co-manager Robbie Clark and Ryan McManus dropped to the bench to be replaced by Ross Alexander and Ronald Fleming. Vale started well and took the lead after half an hour as Aaron Somerville won a battle for the ball with Hawick defender Ian Turnbull and turned inside to blast the ball past keeper Scott Dowie. There was no further scoring during the first half, but the beginning of the second saw a rush of four goals in the space of six minutes. First, the Royalists equalised as a Alan Campbell cross took a deflection off Vale captain Campbell Forsyth and fell into the path of Barry Shiel who pounced to fire home. Having lost the lead, Vale promptly regained it within a minute when a Raymond Fleming shot was partially blocked by Malcolm Cooper and the ball fell kindly for Somerville to knock in. Three minutes later, an inswinging Ronald Fleming corner crept inside the back post, with referee John Weir positioned well enough to judge that the ball had crossed the line before Alan Campbell hooked it clear. The visitors now had little option but to push forward to salvage something from the game and shortly afterward, it was four as Ronald Fleming ran through the gaps left at the back to finish. The scoring was completed three minutes from the end as Somerville was played in by Greig Shortreed to notch his hat-trick.
Vale of Leithen: Robert Hall; Stephen Wishart, Ross McManus, Ross Alexander, Campbell Forsyth, Steven Notman (Ryan McManus 69), Raymond Fleming, Ronald Fleming (Peter Shearlaw 64), Mike MacKale (Colin Smith 61), Aaron Somerville, Greig Shortreed.
Hawick Royal Albert: Scott Dowie; Shaun Inglis, Alan Campbell, Ian Turnbull, Malcolm Cooper, Brian Stavert, Steven Noble, Craig Elliot, Derrick Stavert, Barry Shiel (Kevin Rowley 78), Dean Fry (Mikey Moir 59).
Referee: John Weir.
• The result lifts Vale up one place in the league - see the full table in the results & statistics section, along with an update of the recently neglected First Division results list, which now includes scorers for every game.

19/01/08 Kelso United 4-3 Vale of Leithen
It was an afternoon of heartache for Vale as they surrendered a 3-1 half-time lead at Woodside Park to lose to a Kelso side who, to be fair, battled hard for their victory. It was a game of such twists and turns, it prompted endless speculation about how, had some refereeing decisions been different, it might have ended up differently. Vale took the lead after quarter of an hour played at a furious pace, when Aaron Somerville glanced home a Raymond Fleming cross. They doubled their lead in the 28th minute in controversial circumstances when another Fleming cross was met by Campbell Forsyth. His header was on it's way in, but was helped along by Greig Shortreed whose last touch, intentionally or not, was with his hand. Kelso were furious that the goal stood and striker Derek Burnett was red-carded for taking his protests too far. Two minutes later, Kelso pulled one back from the penalty spot. Vale keeper Mark Wilson clearly brought down Darren Gillon in the box, but the referee decided, despite the presence of two Vale defenders and the fact that Gillon was travelling away from goal at the time, that it was a denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity and sent Wilson packing to even up the numbers. Shortreed took over the gloves, and his first job was to pick Leighton Henderson's penalty out of the net. Despite Vale being denied the services of new signing Craeg Robertson after he was injured in training during the week, the line-up did feature local player Steven Notman, recently released by Hibernian and on the lookout for a new club, and it was Notman who finished a great passing move for Vale's third, firing a low shot from 18 yards that Kelso keeper Elliot Turnbull couldn't get down to in time to prevent it hitting the net. Vale lined up for the second half without captain Campbell Forsyth after the big centre-half had failed to shake of an injury sustained during the first half and only three minutes into the second period Kelso began their fightback when Craig Edwards deceived Shortreed with a looping shot from the edge of the area. Kelso drew level on 57 minutes as Chris Baillie ran onto a long ball forward by Josh Hebdon and poked it past Shortreed. Vale's Mike MacKale had an effort brilliantly saved by Turnbull and when the rebound came back to MacKale, Sean Spour threw himself in front of his second effort, diverting it away for a corner. There was no denying Kelso's winner - no goalkeeper would have got near Paul Dumma's bullet of a free kick which flew straight into the top corner.
Kelso United: Elliot Turnbull; Ormando Crolla (Sean Spour 10), Leighton Henderson, Paul Dumma, Gary McNulty, Chris Baillie, Josh Hebdon, Darren Gillon, Derek Burnett, Mark Lockhart (Gary Mabon 71), Craig Edwards (Chris Black 55).
Vale of Leithen: Mark Wilson; Steven Wishart, Ross McManus, Robbie Clark (Peter Shearlaw 85), Campbell Forsyth (Scott Johnston h-t), Steven Notman, Raymond Fleming, Ryan McManus (Ronald Fleming 69), Mike MacKale, Aaron Somerville, Greig Shortreed.

14/01/08 Squad News
Although the Vale squad have seen little competitive action recently, plenty has been happening behind the scenes as the club management prepare for the second half of the season. One player missing will be defender John Sanders, who has returned to Junior football after the club reached an amicable deal with East Region side Haddington Athletic. The former Bonnyrigg Rose and Dalkeith Thistle player made a total of 28 appearances in just over a year at Victoria Park, taking over the captaincy at the start of this season and leading Vale through their Scottish Cup campaign. Everyone at Vale thanks John for his tremendous service to the club and wishes him well at Millmoor Park. The captain's armband has now been passed to Campbell Forsyth, who will have a new partner in the centre of defence as the club have completed the signature of Craeg Robertson. West Linton native Robertson appeared for Vale in the pre-season friendly against Motherwell, but since then has been in America on a scholarship at Southern Nazerene University and playing for San Francisco Sharks in the Premier Developmental League of the USL. Pity you couldn't have brought some of the weather back with you, Craeg!

12/01/08 Vale of Leithen v Hawick Royal Albert - Match Postponed
After a week that saw snow, heavy rain and 90mph winds batter the Borders, it was just the cold that did it for this one, with the Victoria Park surface frozen solid. It's now a month since Vale were last in action, so fingers crossed that a milder week is in store which will see Woodside Park in playable condition next Saturday as we travel down to face Kelso United.