It's third time unlucky for Vale's King Cup experts

Published 29 Mar 2010 15:34 0 Comments

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Vale of Leithen 0 v 1 Preston Athletic

A GOAL from Stuart Miller in the 72nd minute saw Vale's bid to reach their third successive King Cup Final falter at the Quarter Final stage and no one could argue with the result.

It was a disciplined performance by Preston, who certainly didn't underestimate the task in hand and became the first East of Scotland team this season to get the better of Vale on their home ground.

The Innerleithen side had planned to rest some players with the Image Printers Cup Final this weekend in mind, but with several players unavailable it was a bit of a threadbare squad that wasn't too far from the side they would have put out anyway.

Even manager Rab Paget took a back seat on Saturday, leaving the running of the side to coaches Stewart Churchill and Stuart Gray.

The vast majority of the first half took place inside the Preston half of the pitch as Vale came surging forward, but Preston defended solidly, closing down their opponents and severely restricting them space once they got within sniffing distance of the 18 yard line.

Thus, most of Vale's attempts came from long distance. A thunderbolt of a free kick from Aaron Somerville was tipped over by Preston keeper Ross Gilpin and the keeper dealt comfortably with a Darren Gillon shot shortly afterwards.

Vale's best chance came on the half hour mark as a Gavin Tainsh cross found Scott Moffat unmarked in the center, but Moffat was always stretching to make contact with the ball and couldn't direct his header on target.

Shortly after the turnaround Somerville strode forward and let fly with a shot which was well beaten away by Gilpin, but the East Lothian side had decided to start making moves of their own and a ball across goal by Gary Wales was only just beyond Chris Manson arriving at the far post.

A few minutes later they got the goal that settled it. Ex-Coldstream player Wales was having a fine game and another deep cross was met by Miller who headed the ball over Vale keeper Mark Wilson and into the net.

For the remaining time Preston were streetwise in slowing the game down at any opportunity to protect their lead. Even so, a quick break forward almost saw Wales grabbing a goal, but his powerful volley was met by a good save from Wilson.

Vale of Leithen: M. Wilson; G. Tainsh, J. Hall (P. Lee 70), M. Stewart, P. Thomson, D. Gillon, G. Shortreed, R. Burke (P. Greenhill 70), S. Moffat, A. Somerville, A. Martin.

This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 26 Mar 10

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