Musselburgh Athletic trip next up for Vale of Leithen after 4-2 loss in Edinburgh

That East of Scotland Football League premier division fixture has already been postponed twice due to wintry weather – on Saturday, December 10, and again on Saturday, January 21 – but the two teams are giving it another go this weekend, with kick-off at Olivebank at 2.30pm.

The Borderers lost the reverse fixture in Innerleithen 6-0 in November and their general manager, Bobby Craigie, isn’t expecting any easier a time of it in East Lothian.

“I don’t think anything’s getting any easier but we’re still going in the right direction,” he said.

“We’ve just got to go to Musselburgh and do our best.

“We had a full bench on Friday and that might have been just about the first time this season.

“The team are playing better. We just need a few breaks.

“We’ve got a few games to go, but we’ve got to be realistic. It’s now more about preparing for next season, to be honest, and we’re getting closer to where we want to be.”

Manager Joe Murray’s Vale side go into their 19th game of the season this weekend at the bottom of the table on zero points and on the back of a 4-2 defeat at Edinburgh’s Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale on Friday night, the same scoreline as when the sides met at Victoria Park in August.

Their hosts’ scorers this time round were ex-Gala Fairydean Rovers midfielder Scott-Taylor Mackenzie from the penalty spot 12 minutes in, Joe Viola on 22 minutes and Sean Wringe at the double on 29 and 68, with Tom Penker and Gary Tickle netting for Vale on 61 minutes and 66 respectively.

“It was a really, really good game,” said Craigie.

“We had chances but we gave away some silly goals.

“We were 3-0 down at half-time but came out for the second half and hit the bar, then scored two goals and we were right back in the game, but then we gave a silly goal away again. Over the piece, though, I thought we were the better team in the second half.”