Fort William 5

Vale of Leithen 0

By Callum Hodgson

at Claggan Park

VALE of Leithen crashed out of the Scottish Cup in the Highlands on Saturday.

And the defeat led to manager Chris Anderson offering his resignation.

But officials at the club persuaded the the 32 year-old to stay on.

After the game, Anderson told us: “I think we’re a fragile young team and we were very naive today.

“But football moves on and to stay at this level, you need to learn quickly.

“We have a good group of players in terms of work ethic and I can never fault their attitude in training.

“They’re a young group of players and they will have a good chance to push on.”

The Vale were 1-0 down within just three minutes when Jordan Andrew turned in from a corner.

But the visitors responded well and came close through Robel Dent who forced a fingertip save at the far post.

And moments later he also saw an effort deflected onto the crossbar, following a Liall Smith corner.

However, in the second half the Highland League team stepped up their game – scoring just three minutes after the restart.

Jack Brown played in captain Robert Nevison and he slotted past Andrew McQueen.

And the home side got a third 10 minutes later through half time substitute Ross Gunn after good link-up play with Iain Maclellan.

Vale struggled to create throughout the second half and were punished again when they gave away a free kick on the edge of the area.

Gunn stepped up and fired into the bottom corner.

And almost immediately after the restart Roderick Kennedy rounded off the scoring.

To make matters worse for the visitors, Calum O'Neil was shown a straight red card for catching Maclellan with his arm when competing for a loose ball.

This Saturday, the Vale will travel to the Islecroft Stadium to face Dalbeattie Star in the Lowland League.

Vale of Leithen: A McQueen, A Imlah, R Higgins, J Nwanze, G Rossi (M Underhill , L Smith (L Hall HT), C Hall, B Rixon (C O'Neil 72), R Dent, L Ireland. Subs not used: P Thomson and R Gilpin