Goal from captain Mikey Robertson earns first point for Vale of Leithen in almost two years

Vale of Leithen might just have picked up their first point in the Scottish Lowland Football League for almost two years but new head coach Grant Sandison has warned his players that adding to that tally in the near future will be a tall order.
By Darin Hutson
Published 2nd Nov 2021, 08:29 BST
Vale of Leithen playing against Edinburgh University (Photo: Bobby Craigie)Vale of Leithen playing against Edinburgh University (Photo: Bobby Craigie)
Vale of Leithen playing against Edinburgh University (Photo: Bobby Craigie)

Because that point, the Innerleithen side’s first since they took three off Borders rivals Gala Fairydean Rovers courtesy of a 3-1 win at Netherdale back in December 2019, was earned against second-bottom Gretna 2008, they’re still six points adrift at the foot of the table.

Sandison, however, is glad to see his new side picking up their first point since the season before last and also to have stopped the Dumfries and Galloway side getting nine points ahead of them after going ahead at their Raydale Park home ground on Saturday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Josh Cooper put the hosts ahead on the half-hour mark but Vale captain Mikey Robertson scored an equaliser 10 minutes later and that’s how the scoreline stayed.

“The way the match panned out, a draw was probably a fair result,” said Sandison.

“I’d rather have got three points, but I’ll settle for one.”

LIfe isn’t about to get any easier for Vale, though, as after facing two fellow bottom-four sides in Sandison’s first two games in charge, Edinburgh University and then Gretna, they now come up against three top-five teams in the space of a week – fifth-placed East Stirlingshire at home at Victoria Park this weekend, table-toppers Bonnyrigg Rose away next Tuesday and third-placed Spartans at home a week on Saturday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

After that, though, they’ve got three weeks off to prepare themselves for the rest of the season while other sides in the league continue cup campaigns and Sandison says he’ll be glad of that respite.

"We’ll have had five games since I started including three difficult ones in a week coming up – East Stirlingshire, Bonnyrigg Rose and Spartans – but then we’ve got a three-week break to tweak what we need and maybe arrange a couple of friendlies,” said Sandison.

"Already I can see positives.

“There was further improvement on Saturday following the Edinburgh University game.

“We were a lot more organised and we managed to create chances as well, though we couldn’t capitalise on most of them.”

A crew from the BBC Scotland show will be at Victoria Park this Saturday to cover Vale’s game against Shire kicking off at 3pm.

Related topics:Bonnyrigg Rose