Vale of Leithen still on zero points after 3-0 home loss to Tynecastle

That defeat – thanks to two goals by Ryan Cameron, 15 seconds in and on 72 minutes from the penalty spot, and one from Fletcher Hendry, a 43rd-minute free-kick, at Innerleithen’s Victoria Park – saw the 11th-placed Edinburgh side pull off a winning double against the bottom-of-the-table Borderers, having beaten them by the same margin in the capital in September, prevailing 4-1 that time round.

New manager Ian Flynn’s Vale side – currently on zero points from 26 fixtures, having conceded 126 goals and scored 19 – now have four fixtures left to fulfil before back-to-back relegations see them drop down to the EoSFL’s first division and they’re versus the four clubs immediately above them in the league standings come the final whistle at the weekend.

One of those is against the only side they’ve beaten so far this campaign, Hill of Beath Hawthorn, though the three points they picked up from that 2-0 victory at the end of September, their first home win since getting the better of Cumbernauld Colts by 5-0 in the Scottish Lowland Football League back in April 2019, were later wiped out for fielding an ineligible trialist, Sunny McGrath, during their 3-1 defeat at Crossgates Primrose in mid-November.

That reverse fixture is on Saturday, April 29, with kick-off at 2.30pm.

Before that, though, they’ve had their postponed trip to Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts rescheduled for this coming Saturday, also kicking off at 2.30pm.

Following that, they’re at home to Blackburn United on Saturday, May 6, and travel to second-bottom Oakley United – like them, confirmed for relegation – on Saturday, May 13, both those matches being 2.30pm kick-offs too.