Three and easy as Vale pass test

Published 2 Oct 2009 12:08 0 Comments

See also:

Edinburgh Uni 0 v 3 Vale of Leithen

IF it's the romance of the cup we're going to talk about, the search for Innerleithen's most romantic resident might as well be called off now.

Were Aaron Somerville to enter his details at match.com, Scotland's premier national cup competition would no doubt come back as his ideal companion.

It's a relationship which has seen the Vale striker score six goals in just four encounters, a return that any player would be pleased with.

But once again this was a real team performance from Vale.

Plenty of nice touches and good football was balanced out by some hard graft as Vale, having established a two-goal lead after an hour, looked to kill off any prospect of a revival by the students.

Vale got on top of the game from the first whistle, with Andy Martin the biggest threat in the early stages.

As early as the eighth minute, the winger turned the defence inside out before firing a shot narrowly wide. Shortly after John Hall set up Martin for a shot just off target before another effort was deflected on to the roof of the net.

Martin turned provider as he carved out an opening for Somerville, but University keeper Steven Oliver got down well to stop the low shot.

Somerville would not be denied for much longer though as a Martin cross found him at the near post in the 20th minute.

A powerful downward header looked to have been collected by Oliver, but the ball squirmed from the keeper's grasp and a further lunge couldn't prevent it from crossing the line.

Edinburgh's main threat came from set-pieces, with towering centre-half Darren Jarvie coming forward to lend his arial presence to every free kick and corner.

But on the one occasion he managed to get a header on target from a Jack Beesley corner, Vale keeper Darren Walker was equal to it, superbly tipping the ball over.

James Craigen came close to putting the students on level terms at the start of the second half, as he knocked a anothe Beesley corner over the bar from close range.

On the hour mark Vale doubled their advantage, as Somerville cracked a fantastic low shot from the edge of the area into the corner of the net.

There was no let up for the students as Vale continued to pile forward, with Ger Rossi shooting inches over after good work by Martin. Shortly after, the best move of the game saw Martin and Rossi combine, before Somerville cleverly dummied to let the ball run into the path of Ousman Sonko, who's powerful drive was well saved by Oliver.

University made changes, adopting a more attacking formation, but Darren Gillon and Paul Greenhill combined in midfield to break most moves up before they'd even crossed into the Vale half.

The Innerleithen side even found time to add a third in injury time, as substitute Steven Dongo latched onto a long ball, rounded defender Alisdair MacKinnon and shot beyond Oliver.

Edinburgh University: S. Oliver; P. Thomson, S. Davison (J. Beecher 66), A. MacKinnon, D. Jarvie, J. Brownlie (B. Antoni 57), S. Scott-Woodhouse, K. Dodds, D. Oswald (F. Munro 66), J. Beesley, J. Craigen.

Vale of Leithen: D. Walker; G. Tainsh, P. Lee, M. Stewart, J. Hall, P. Greenhill, A. Martin, D. Gillon, G. Rossi (S. Moffat 85), O. Sonko (D. Jones 79), A. Somerville (S. Dongo 88).

This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 02 Oct 09

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.

Peeblesshire News Poll

Are you in favour of wind farms?

This Poll is now closed.

Yes (70.0%)

No (30.0%)

Follow @peeblesnews