With yet another positive result clocked up at the weekend, Keith McLeod is loving life as player-assistant manager at the Vale.

The striker has had to adapt to his new role as part of the management team as well as a slightly different one on the pitch. But a decent start to the season suggests that the new set up comprising manager Chris Anderson, McLeod and coaches Sean Taylor, Keith Boyes and Mark Beveridge is doing well.

He said: “It was a good win on Saturday but it wasn’t the greatest game. The pitch partly dictated that as it wasn’t a day for pretty football. It was a day for getting dug in and stuck in to your opposition and we did that.”

It continues the steady form that has been put together, with four of the five league defeats coming from teams in the top five. The other came in a tricky away tie to BSC Glasgow who are also in the top half. Vale sit sixth with six wins from 13 matches and McLeod feels they must endeavour to continue to perform to that level.

“As a whole the season has gone really well so far. We had a setback when we lost 9-1 to East Kilbride in the Scottish Cup. I think it was a reality check and it helped us get back to doing the right things.

“We have a plan and an idea of what we want to do. We are maybe not as good as an East Kilbride but we have something to strive for. I’ve enjoyed it so far but it will count for nothing if we don’t carry on doing what we’ve done.

“We won’t sit back because we always want to improve. It’s all new for myself, Ando, Sean, Boyesy and Mark but it perhaps gives us something that other teams don’t have with me and Boyesy being on the park. We can sometimes see things differently to what Ando sees on the side.”

Any improvement on last season would have been welcomed with a top half finish seen as a good achievement. When asked what the team should now be targeting given the consistency they have shown, McLeod tried to remain pragmatic whilst acknowledging the capability within the squad.

He said: “We would be disappointed if we did not finish in the top half – but why not try for top six or top four? There are a lot of different clubs with different types of histories and different budgets in the league which makes it interesting, but to be right in the mix with the likes of Spartans, East Stirling, Dalbeattie and Whitehill is good.”

The striker spent virtually his whole career at Spartans before signing on at Victoria Park for previous manager Mickey Lawson in 2015. He forged quite a reputation as an all action goal scorer in his younger days, but he has had to adapt his game upon reaching his late 30’s.

He added: “I’ve been happy-ish with my performances, but not over the moon. I have a different role now as my legs have gone a bit. I’ve not got the same burst of pace that I had and my role now is to hold the ball up for other guys coming on. It works well with younger fresh legs playing off me.

“I would maybe have liked to have scored more. I’d like to hit double figures and I think I’m on 5 now.”

One of those younger, fresher faces he refers to is Blair Atkinson with whom he has forged a promising looking partnership. Atkinson is in Innerleithen on loan from Spartans and has proved to be one of a number of master stroke signings, topping the scoring charts with ten goals, and McLeod revealed he wishes his partner could stick around beyond his deal.

“He’s an absolute gem of a guy. He wants to learn but he is also quite single minded which has got him goals. He is a fantastic finisher. He’s small and light but he’s a young guy and I’d like to think he can learn from me. I’m not the type of guy who shouts from the rooftops about what I’ve done, but I have scored goals and hopefully he will look at me as someone to learn from. We’d love to be able to keep him here for longer than he is.”

It wasn’t a 9-1. And for that Vale manager Chris Anderson was grateful after losing 4-2 to world-record equalers East Kilbride. But he was also heartened by the performance of his depleted team.

Kilby matched the Ajax side of 1971-72, featuring Johan Cruyff, by winning their 26th match in a row but it could have been very different with the visitors leading 2-1 at half time and locked at 2-2 until the 84th minute.

A soft penalty award allowed Sean Winter to give his side the lead before Martin McBride sealed it a minute later.

Anderson though praised his team for the way they ran the league leaders so close. He said: “Nobody likes losing games. However, although we never came away with any points we left East Kilbride with huge pride.

“Credit to EK who are on a great run and no doubt are a fantastic team, but I was very proud of all of the players yesterday and it fills me with excitement as to what this team can achieve in the future.

“We might not be ready to challenge the best teams in the league for an entire season yet but in a one off game we showed we are more than good enough to compete.”

That they were able to do so with several players missing must be an encouraging sign, especially since the same team had punished them 9-1 just weeks earlier. Injuries and unavailabilities meant that he only had 13 players available, and one of the two subs was goalkeeper Jamie Shiel.

The defeat has meant a drop to seventh place, but with a game in hand on BSC Glasgow who are immediately above. Anderson is only thinking about going back up the way.

He added: “Once we get a full quota of players available again we are only looking up in terms of the league and standards are set higher than ever at this club now.

“There are no excuses. With the talent and appetite we have in this squad we have to aim as high as possible.”

 

With a free weekend looming due to Vale’s Scottish Cup inactivity, coach Sean Taylor took the opportunity to reflect on the season so far. And he is keen to see the high standards that have been set pushed even further.

He is in his first coaching role after Chris Anderson asked him to come in and help out primarily on the fitness and conditioning side of things. Sean is a personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach in his day job, and played amateur football until recently.

As well as helping out at training, he takes the lead during match day warm ups and after a promising start to the season, he is relishing his new role.

He told us: “It has been great so far. Each week delivers a new challenge and it is great having the responsibility in training and pre-match to work with the players.

“So far we have maybe raised a few eyebrows in the league – a small club in a league where other clubs have bigger budgets at their disposal, but we have created a wonderfully professional environment where players can flourish.

“So far so good but we can do more and it’s only October. It’s a long season and this next spell of matches is crucial for us.”

As fitness coach, Taylor was heavily involved during pre-season training and he now feels that the players are seeing the fruits of their labour.

“A lot of my work pre-season was focused on getting the boys in peak physical fitness ahead of the opening match but we continue to work hard on various conditioning aspects every week.

“The boys are without doubt one of the fittest squads in the league. I take great pride in that and although it has not won us games it has meant we are still playing at full tilt into injury time. But like every aspect of the game we continue to push the players to be fitter, stronger and faster”, he added.

The performance so far this season has been an improvement on the last campaign’s 13^th position, but the staff are eager to ensure standards remain high in order to stay higher up the league.

Taylor said: “We cannot look too far ahead but over the next six weeks we will see where the club is headed for the remainder of the season. Sixth place after the first third of the league is better than where the club was last year but this is a new team with a different culture and we as a staff and playing group will keep pushing each other’s standards week in week out.”

Vale travel to league leaders East Kilbride next before matches against Gretna, Gala Fairydean Rovers, Edinburgh University and Whitehill Welfare.