'We were well worth the point' - Vale of Leithen boss Grant Sandison praises his basement boys after draw at East Kilbride

Scottish Lowland Football League basement boys Vale of Leithen closed to within six points of second bottom Gretna 2008 with a 0-0 draw at East Kilbride on Saturday.
Vale of Leithen gaffer Grant Sandison (Photo: Alan Murray)Vale of Leithen gaffer Grant Sandison (Photo: Alan Murray)
Vale of Leithen gaffer Grant Sandison (Photo: Alan Murray)

Vale boss Grant Sandison was hugely encouraged by his team’s display against a side sitting fifth, although he felt Leithen could have won.

“The boys were great,” Sandison said. “They played really well.

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"It was a similar performance to the Bo’ness game that we won.

"If we take that forward into the next eight games we feel that we can pick up points.

"Whether that will get us enough or not we don’t know, but if we can perform like we did on Saturday consistently between now and the end of the season then we’ll have more points than we have now.”

Sandison was pleased his men made themselves hard to beat on Saturday.

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"East Kilbride had two good chances to score but we were hitting them on the counter too,” he added.

"We had a good opportunity to score on the stroke of half-time when the goalie made a good save from Lewis Graham. From the resultant corner, the ball got put into the back post and big Andy Mackay our centre half had a free header that he should have done better with and could have scored from.

“In the second half we had a chance to break away that we never made the most of.

"East Kilbride had a lot of the ball but I would say in terms of chances created a draw was a fair result. We were well worth the point.”

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Vale host Berwick Rangers in the league this Saturday with kick-off at 3pm.

Seventh placed Berwick go into the game having lost 3-1 at Caledonian Braves last weekend.

"We’ve got a bit of belief from our result on Saturday,” Sandison said. “It’s picked up the boys’ spirits, they’ve got a bit of confidence again so it’s just trying to build on that momentum.

"Obviously Berwick didn’t have a great result. I don’t think they’ll be looking forward to coming to play us too much.

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"Considering the position that we’re in, nobody wants to be the ones that we get the scalp over.

"We go in there with plenty belief and plenty confidence and I think they’ll be lacking a bit of confidence and be a wee bit wary of us.”

Meanwhile, Vale have signed Kurdish midfielder Bawan Jamal – who played 90 minutes against East Kilbride – until the end of the season after a successful trial period.

"He’s technically good, a good football player,” Sandison said. “He’s got a good attitude, a good work-rate.

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"He’s a bit tenacious, he’ll rat about, get in folks’ faces and bite their ankles if he has to.

"But he’s good on the ball as well. As far as a central midfielder goes he’s a bit of an all rounder.

"I’m sure as each game passes and he gets used to our team and the way we play I believe he’ll get better and better. So he’s a wee find for us.”

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