Goal king Cole gives Vale some soul
Dave Ryce • Published 15 Oct 2010 09:30
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Vale of Leithen 2 v 2 Edinburgh City
LIKE an edition of Living TV’s paranormal series 'Most Haunted’, this game was probably best viewed through night vision goggles.
Edinburgh City, the draw specialists of the East of Scotland League, thought they were on their way to achieving their first Premier Division win of the season with quarter of an hour remaining.
But in events that even Derek Acorah would’ve dismissed as far-fetched, they found themselves spooked by the ghostly apparition of former player Graeme Cole appearing in front of goal twice in the space of two minutes to level the game.
The Innerleithen side could even have grabbed all three points, had striker Scott Moffat not been possessed by the spirit of a defender as an injury time chance fell to him.
Vale made a good start to the game with debutant centre-half Ricky Miller rising to meet an Andy Martin corner, which City keeper Andrew Stobie leapt to superbly tip over the bar.
A Mike Osbourne pass put Martin in the clear a couple of minutes later, but he pulled his shot wide. Stobie again came to the rescue for the Citizens when a Kerr Dodds shot deflected kindly for Moffat to get a head to the ball, but the keeper tipped over brilliantly.
Despite this, it was the capital side who took the lead against the run of play in the 36th minute as the ball broke inside the penalty area for Dougie Gair to drill home a clinical finish from ten yards.
It’s amazing what a goal can do to the morale of a team and all of a sudden City went from being second to everything to dominating play.
This lasted well into the second half, and they grabbed a second in the 67th minute when substitute Jorge Vinelli picked up a poor clearance and threaded the ball through to striker Andy Howat, who squeezed a low shot between Darren Walker and the post.
Vale looked dead and buried now, but in the 75th minute an Andy Milligan cross was flicked on by Moffat and Cole arrived at the back post to blast the ball into the net.
Two minutes later a Martin cross was knocked on by Moffat and Cole was again there to bullet the ball home.
With neither side happy to settle for a point, the match saw a frantic finale and Vale came so close to snatching a win in the fourth minute of injury time as a Cole cross found Moffat a couple of yards from goal.
The merest of touches would have sealed a win for Vale, but the striker elected to blast the ball and sent it flying over the bar.
Vale of Leithen: D. Walker; A. Milligan, J. Lauder, R. Miller, P. Lee, P. Greenhill (S. Radzynski 61), A. Martin, K. Dodds, S. Moffat, M. Osbourne, G. Cole.
This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 15 Oct 10
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