Vale 4 Cumbernauld Colts 4

Well our survival in the Lowland League is now in the hands of Cowdenbeath who must beat Cove Rangers for us to stay up.
Although tonight’s game was very entertaining Vale will regret some lapses in defending that allowed the Colts to come back from 3-0 and 4-1 down to equalise in the last minute.
It was a tall order with both Blaikie and Scott-Mercer returning to the side after missing a fair part of the season with injuries, and eventually both had to be replaced through injuries as well as McBride.
The game had started with Vale pressing and they were reward in 5 min when Allan strode through the Colts defence to make it 1-0.
Vale increased there lead in the 21 mins when after some slack defending on the bye line the ball broke to Finnie who knocked it home.
In 41 mins a break on the left allowed Stewart to advance into the Colts box and put the ball beyond the keeper for a 3-0 lead.
On the stroke of half time a corner was missed by the Vale defence and Brown bent low to head past Gilpin.
HT 3-1

In 50 mins after a melee in the box from a corner McBride shot home to give Vale a 4-1 lead.
To fair to Colts from then on they started to create chances especially with Brown who is an excellent player and he was rewarded in 55 mins when he reduced the Vale lead.
From then on it was a backs to the wall for Vale as the fast Colt forwards were starting to give the Vale backline a hard time.
Colts reduced the lead further in 75 mins when Wallace scored.
As the game entered the dying minutes and Vale trying to see out time Colts broke up the park and Brown slotted home for his hat trick.
FT 4-4
Match Sponsor Brian Ellis man of the match was Ross Gilpin, who had some excellent saves during the game.
A hard result to take but the lack of match fitness for our returning players and some slack play in our own half led to our downfall.
Again the players put in a good shift and cannot be faulted for effort.

Selkirk FC 1 Vale 1
The main talking point of this game can only be the referee who bewildered the Vale supporters with some terrible decisions.
Due to work commitments Vale had Kerr and Raiker missing from their midfield.
A sudden downpour on commencement of the game left the pitch with a very slippery surface which was giving both teams some problems. With Selkirk having the wind at their back the majority of the first half was spent in the Vale half without really creating many chances. Selkirk were playing a lot long balls forward, mainly over hit due to the winds.
An uneventful first half suddenly turned against Vale when the referee pointed to the penalty spot after he adjudged that Lewis had pushed a Selkirk player, when a ball was crossed into the box.
After a few protests from the Vale players, justice was done when Baxter crashed the ball against the crossbar.
HT 0-0
In the first minute of the second half Stewart was brought down as he made his way into the box, only for the referee to give a corner kick.
With Vale showing a lot more urgency the Vale were caught out in the 50 minutes when the Selkirk winger was allowed space on the right and made his way into the box where his cross was turned into his own goal by Lewis.
In 55 minutes Stewart was one to one with the Selkirk goalie only for his shot to rebound off the goalie’s leg.
Vale were now starting to take control and were rewarded in the 65 minutes when Dawson scored from close range.
Vale brought on Chris Anderson for Lewis as they chased the winner.
The game was now opening up and Liall Smith almost put Vale ahead in 73 minutes when his volley just missed the top corner.
Vale then had another good claim for a penalty when Stewart was again fouled in the box, again ignored by the referee.
Both teams had chances to score, with the miss of the match coming in the 80 minutes when the Selkirk number 11 managed to turn a cross over the bar two metres from the goal line.
FT 1-1
A really good performance from the boys in the second half deserved a win, and only some terrible refereeing decisions prevented that.