Martin vows to work hard to repeat success

Andy Martin is convinced he and his new Vale team-mates can quickly shoot back up the Lowland League table.

The midfielder has signed on for a second spell at the club after leaving Whitehill Welfare and joins a team in the middle of a sticky patch. His second debut resulted in a 6-0 defeat at the hands of bottom of the league Selkirk, but he remains convinced that he has made the right choice in re-joining the club.

Having initially made the short move from Peebles Rovers in 2008, his first spell lasted four years and he was part of the squad which won promotion to the East of Scotland Premier Division in 2009-10. He now feels he is part of a squad which can make some waves of their own.

“I have only had a couple of training sessions and I feel the recent form doesn’t reflect the talent we have in the squad.

“I would say top six would be a great platform to kick on to next season but I don’t see any reason why we can’t do even better.

“The gaffer spoke about hard work, sticking together and rolling the sleeves up and I’m sure if we can do that the results will come. Every team goes through rough spells and it’s the teams that stick together and work hard that get through them”, said Martin.

The Whitehill side he left behind due to work commitments are three league places and four points better off than Vale with two games in hand. Chris Anderson managed to talk him into making a return to Victoria Park and he had no hesitation in moving to a team lower down the table.

He explained: “I had a great four seasons with Whitehill, meeting some really good people and managed to win several trophies along the way. But with work commitments and various other things I started questioning myself and if I had the appetite to keep playing.

“After a short break the manager called me and having known Ando for a long time I knew what sort of squad he would be trying to build and I wanted to be part of it.”