Basement side Vale of Leithen hit for six at home to second-placed Sauchie Juniors

It’s over six months since the basement side’s only win to date of the current campaign, by 2-0 at home to Hill of Beath Hawthorn at Innerleithen’s Victoria Park at the end of September, but having just faced the top two teams in their division on successive Saturdays, their run-in is against the five clubs immediately above them at the bottom end of the table.

They’re at home to fifth-from-bottom Tynecastle this coming Saturday, and that’s followed seven days later by their reverse fxture against fourth-from-bottom Hill of Beath Hawthorn in Fife.

After that, they host third-from-bottom Blackburn United on Saturday, May 6, and travel to second-bottom Oakley United – also, like them, confirmed for relegation – on Saturday, May 13.

All those matches are 2.30pm kick-offs but a date and time have yet to be set for the other fixture they’ve got left, away to sixth-from-bottom Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts.

New manager Ian Flynn’s Vale side were beaten 6-0 at home on Saturday gone by second-placed Sauchie Juniors, following on from a 7-0 loss to table-topping Linlithgow Rose, also at home, the weekend before.

Ross Kavanagh and Jack Docherty both scored at the double for their visitors from Clackmannanshire, with Kieran Anderson and Brian Morgan also netting.

A Vale spokesperson said: “The last week has been very testing for the team as we have faced the top two teams in the league, Linlithgow Rose and Sauchie Juniors, with our limited-sized squad.

“On Saturday, we had five players missing through injury and had to play with a squad of 12, including two trialists and two goalies.

“The effort put in by all the players deserves a fair bit of credit, especially as they kept going right to the end despite being well beaten.”