BOSSES at Vale of Leithen are already drawing up their Christmas list to compensate for a loanee exodus in the New Year.

Two of the club's top players, Blair Atkinson and Brad Raiker, are due to return to Spartans following the festive season.

But manager Chris Anderson and the rest of the backroom staff at Victoria Park are already looking for replacements to plug the gaps.

Vale general manager Mark Lamb told us: "We will be sitting down with Chris over the next few days to identify players we can bring in after Christmas.

"One of our priorities has to be a striker. When Blair returns to Spartans to will be left with only Keith Mcleod as our sole forward and if he was to get injured we'd have a major problem.

"We are happy with the squad we have but we will need two or three more players if we want to be towards the top of the Lowland League."

Vale face Civil Service Strollers tomorrow at Victoria Park.

And for the first time this season Anderson will have every signed player at his disposal with Jason Stevens, Kevin Motion and Andrew McQueen all recovering from injury.

Lamb added: "Having last week's match with Whitehill postponed has allowed a few players to shake of the injuries they were carrying.

"We have had problems all season with injuries and suspensions, so it will be strange to have everyone fit and available.

"With Civil Service Strollers joining the league this season we don't know an awful lot about them, but they have equipped themselves pretty well so far and we expect a tough match."

A victory for Vale tomorrow could take them from ninth up to fifth.

The match kicks off at 2pm.