Dalbeattie Star 1

Vale of Leithen 3

VALE moved off the bottom of the Lowland League with their first win of the season.

Chris Anderson's team have come under fire in recent weeks for poor performances.

But on Saturday they more than deserved the victory over struggling Star.

Vale had already carved open the Dalbeattie defence a couple of times before Brad Rixon fired them in front.

The striker raced onto a through ball to fire past Vinnie Parker in the 37th minute.

Dalbeattie attempted to respond before the interval but Josh Wishart and Paul Thomson defended well.

However, the home crowd were lifted 14 minutes into the second half as Philip Middlemiss found enough space inside the area to beat Ross Gilpin.

Many teams who have been on such a poor run of late would have crumbled after giving up their lead, but Vale fired straight back.

Liam Ireland raced into the area to score just 90 seconds later.

The highly-impressive Robel Dent made sure of the points with a great run and goal in the 80th minute.

Vale manager Chris Anderson said: "The only disappointing thing for me is that it has taken us this long to play like I knew we could.

"It's games against teams like Dalbeattie and the others around us that will determine our season.

"That was a great performance today, and we need to be able to take that into next week."

Vale of Leithen. Ross Gilpin, Calum ONeil, Alex Imlah, Josh Wishart. Paul Thomson, Alistair Smith, Calum Hall, Ger Rossi, Liam Ireland, Brad Rixon & Robel Dent. Subs Ryan Higgins, Liall Smith & Matthew Underhill.