Vale of Leithen 0-2 East Stirlingshire

By Callum Hodgson at Victoria Park

FURIOUS Vale boss Chris Anderson slammed the officials after his side’s defeat at Victoria Park on Saturday.

The home side enjoyed good spells throughout the game, but were undone on 65 minutes by Paul Sludden and again on 90 minutes by Kevin Kelbie.

And to make matters worse, Vale, already plagued by injuries, were dealt further blows when Euan Saunderson pulled up in the warm up and Thomas Patterson and Steven Lynch had to be subbed early on.

Anderson had to name himself as a substitute at the start of the game and was livid with the referee at the full-time whistle after he waved away strong penalty appeals and sent coach Sean Taylor to the stand.

He told us: “It was quite simple. The officials made it an impossible task for us today. We were already depleted. We had injuries in the warm-up then had two injured in the game, but we worked incredibly hard.

“But the game itself was ran in a way that made it impossible to get anything. The work rate was tremendous and if we play like that in other games and get a bit more luck then we will pick up points.”

Vale started the game the brightest and with five minutes on the clock Patterson skimmed the bar with a free kick.

But just eight minutes later he had to be stretchered off after he came off worse in a 50-50 challenge.

John Sludden’s side grew into the game and could have scored when Kelbie got his head on a Paul Sludden cross, but his effort was scrambled off the line by Ainslie Hunter.

Vale started the game with four named subs, but a minute later were left with just one when Lynch hobbled off the field.

But the home side stuck at it and came close when Jordan Finnie burst in from the right and fired his attempt across the face of goal.

Andrew Rodgers and Jamie McCormack created chances for the Shire, the latter linking up well with Kelbie one minute before the interval, but his shot was well saved by Ross Gilpin.

Early in the second half, East Stirlingshire should have broken the deadlock.

Rodgers broke through and beat Gilpin, but Jonny Scott-Mercer recovered well and cleared the ball of the line.

And five minutes later they did go in front. Rodgers again charged past substitute Aaron Lewis, passed the ball to Kelbie who then eventually played in Sludden who slotted home.

But moments later, the referee waved away what looked like a blatant penalty for Vale.

Jordan Tapping jumped on the back of Craig McBride pulling him to the ground, infuriating the bench.

Coach Taylor was sent away from the dugout while Anderson was given a talking to on the touchline.

This prompted the gaffer to make his third and final change – bringing himself on to try and rescue a point.

But despite Vale’s best efforts, which on any other day would have seen them come away a point at the very least, the Shire doubled their lead against the run of play on the 90th minute.

Kelbie charged through and fired a shot; the keeper parried it out back into his path and he made no mistake the second time around.

Vale: R Gilpin, J Scott-Mercer, A Imlah, S Lynch (A Lewis,27), C McBride, A Hunter, S Stewart, K Allan (C Anderson,74), S Stevens, J Finnie, T Patterson (L Smith,13)