Late strike gives Vale victory

Dave Ryce • Published 20 Aug 2010 09:30 0 Comments

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Vale of Leithen 1 v 0 Heriot-Watt University

Vale kicked off their first Premier Division campaign in half a dozen years with a win.

Not since a 4-2 victory over Preston Athletic in April 2004 have Vale collected three points in the East of Scotland's top league, and the match winning goal from Scott Moffat was Vale's first Premier Division strike since Mel Graham netted in a draw with Craigroyston, also in April 2004.

Vale were missing a few key players, with Kerr Dodds still injured, while Steve Radzynski was serving the first match of his two-game suspension and Aaron Brunton was unavailable.

This left Vale short upfront, but manager Stewart Churchill fielded former Hibs youngster Keith Murray as a trialist.

The first half was a tight affair, with a compressed midfield seeing both sides mainly cancel each other out.

The first real chance of the match fell to midfielder Chris Beaton, who spotted Watt goalkeeper John Falconer off his line, but his attempted lob from distance fell wide.

Just past the quarter hour mark, Watt's Michael Connor hit a shot from the edge of the area which bounced off the post with Vale keeper Darren Walker beaten.

At the other end, a Gavin Tainsh cross found Murray in the middle, who took the ball past Watt keeper John Falconer, but as he attempted to guide the chance home, Jordan Irvine was on hand to clear the attempt off the line.

Play opened up in the second half, with the game starting to swing from end to end.

Despite some pressure, Vale's final ball seemed to be lacking and the students, with some very mobile players moving the ball about well, put together some good moves, but found that as soon as the ball entered the penalty area, Walker was claiming everything.

The move of the match saw Vale's Moffat feed the ball out to Paul Lee on the left and his first time cross was met by Murray, but the striker's header bounced inches wide.

As time went on, it started to look as if Vale's efforts to make the breakthrough might go unrewarded, but seven minutes from the end Moffat collected a long pass and rounded Falconer to slip the ball into the net.

It was a goal that was greeted with a huge roar from the Victoria Park faithful, as much in relief as celebration as they had been the better side throughout.

The goal was immediately followed by a scare as Watt captain Aaron James went on a mazy run before unleashing a shot from 20 yards that flew narrowly over.

But Vale could have added to their lead as visiting defender Dominic Samuel was penalised for a foul on Gillon at the edge of the area, but Jamie Lauder flashed the free kick just wide.

A great move saw a Lauder cross knocked down by Darren Gillon to give Moffat another chance, but his powerful strike rattled the crossbar.

Vale of Leithen: Darren Walker; Gavin Tainsh, Paul Lee, Mike Stewart, John Hall, Paul Greenhill, Chris Beaton, Darren Gillon ‚, Keith Murray ‚ (Andy Penman 77), Scott Moffat, Jamie Lauder.

Heriot-Watt Univeristy: John Falconer; Gavin Main, Aaron James, Andy Forbes, Dominic Samuel ‚, Jimmy Rae, Banji Koya, Matthew Travis (Gordon Wilson 80), Ronnie Napier, Michael Connor, Jordan Irvine (Stuart McIntyre 70).

Referee: John McCrossan.

This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 20 Aug 10

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