Vale of Leithen chalk up Borders’ only win v Fife opposition at weekend

That solitary success story was written by Vale of Leithen as they edged out Newburgh 2-1 at home, with Coldstream and Hawick Royal Albert being held to 2-2 draws on the road, at Oakley United and Burntisland Shipyard respectively, and Linton Hotspur losing 1-0 away to Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts.

Kyle Kivlichan scored both of Vale’s goals at their Victoria Park home ground in Innerleithen, on 17 minutes and 75, against opponents left two men short by red cards on 63 and 80, with Blair Campbell equalising for the visitors on 54.

Campbell was one of the two Newburgh players sent off, on 80 minutes, along with Calum Lownie on 64.

Matt Boyd scored both of Coldstream’s goals, on 36 minutes and 53, as they fought back from falling 2-0 behind to salvage a point.

Oakley’s scorers were Callum Bryson on 18 minutes and Steven Jackson on 33.

Netting for Albert were Struan Maclean on 60 minutes and Harry Fowler on 65, with Ethan Bauld and Sean Collinson on target for their hosts on 22 and 79.

The only goal of the game in Dalgety Bay as Hotspur were sent packing without any points was scored by Caleb Holness on 14 minutes for their EoSFL second division north-west conference table-topping hosts.

Those results leave manager David Brown’s Streamers 11th in EoSFL division one, on 18 points from 14 fixtures, and opposite numbers Ruairidh Fleming and Paul Currie’s Hotspur, Kenny Aitchison’s Albert and Ger Rossi’s Vale respectively third, fourth and seventh in the EoSFL’s second division south-east conference on 24 points from 14 games, 21 from 13 and 16 from 12.

Coldstream and Vale are both in King Cup action this coming Saturday against EoSFL first division opposition, the former away to Edinburgh’s Hutchison Vale in round two and the latter at home to Kirkcaldy and Dysart in round one.

Hotspur and Albert are both at home on league business, with south-east conference top dogs Edinburgh United and Newburgh, currently tenth in the north-west version, as their respective visitors.

Kick-off is at 2pm in West Linton and half an hour later elsewhere.

Coldstream head to the capital hoping for a first win ever versus Hutchie at the 22nd time of asking.

The latest addition to a losing streak stretching back 12 years and 21 fixtures was a 2-0 defeat at home on EoSFL division one duty in July and their biggest loss during that run was a 7-0 thumping on the road in February 2017.

Vale also have a 7-0 battering on their record versus Kirkcaldy, in EoSFL division one in May 2024 away, but they got the better of their most recent meeting with Fifers six months later, by 6-3 on the road in the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup. Their only previous meeting in Innerleithen went the way of the visitors by 4-2, also in EoSFL division one, in July 2023.

Hotspur have lost three of their four games against Edinburgh United to date, most recently by 4-1 away in July’s reverse league fixture.

Albert host Newburgh on the back of a 5-4 away win last time round, in the EoSFL’s old third division in April, that being their fourth victory in their last seven meetings.

A midweek league fixture card next Tuesday sees the Royalists hosting a derby against Hotspur and Vale at home to Cowdenbeath Central, both 7.30pm kick-offs.