Vale of Leithen still hoping to avoid third relegation on bounce despite being on 13-match losing streak in league

​The Innerleithen outfit are only 15 points away from safety at the moment and they’ve got most of their season ahead of them, with 51 points at stake, so they’ve no intention of throwing in the towel just yet, says Craigie.

Manager Ian Flynn’s Vale side are six points adrift of second-bottom Oakley United and 13 behind third-from-bottom Leith Athletic but only a further two shy of three teams just above the relegation zone – Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University in 11th place, Midlothian’s Whitehill Welfare in 12th and Fife’s Lochore Welfare in 13th, all on 15 points.

“To be perfectly honest, our chances of staying up are looking very slim, but we’re still hoping to get more new players in and that could make all the difference,” said Craigie.

“It’s difficult to get players to come here, and that’s probably a lot to do with how the team have performed over the last few years, but we’re working on it all the time and we’re still trying.

“If we get on a run and win a few games, we could be back in there.

“We’re not miles off – three wins and we could be back in with a shout of staying up.

“Our game against Rosyth was our first at home for over a month, so we’ve got three home games that were postponed before that to play – against Arniston Rangers, Preston Athletic and Heriot-Watt – and they’re all middle of the table or in the bottom half, so we’d hope to be able to compete in those ones.”

Vale were due to hit the road for their last fixture of 2023 on Saturday, against Whitehill, with that away-day offering an opportunity for the Borderers to make amends for their 4-0 defeat in the reverse fixture in September, but that fixture was called off due to their hosts’ pitch being frozen.

Next up for them is another road trip to Midlothian this coming Saturday, this time to take on Arniston, currently tenth in the table on 16 points from a dozen fixtures. Kick-off at Gorebridge’s Newbyres Park is at 2pm.

Vale have yet to meet Arniston this season as their planned home match against them at the start of November was postponed.

Looking ahead, Craigie added: “We’ve just got to go out there and give teams a game.

“The biggest thing that we’re looking for now is competing and I think we’re doing that.

“Although Leith beat us 5-1 the other Friday, that was never a 5-1 game, and we competed well all the way through our last match, at home to Rosyth, and were only three minutes away from getting something out of it.”

Vale’s relegation from the EoSFL’s premier division in the summer, after finishing bottom with minus-six points from 30 fixtures, was their second on the trot after dropping out of the Scottish Lowland Football League a year previously, having ended up in bottom spot on five points from 34 games.

That was their third bottom-placed finish in the fifth-tier league in a row, having joined it as one of 12 founder members in 2013, but they’d avoided relegation prior to that because both those seasons were cut short by coronavirus restrictions.