There will be few fingers belonging to those of a Vale of Leithen persuasion left uncrossed this evening, as we hope that the weather does not take too much of a turn for the worse.

If tomorrow’s match against Civil Service Strollers does go ahead it will be the first time the Innerleithen men have played in a competitive fixture since January 7.

Manager Chris Anderson said: “Firstly I would like to take the time to wish Civil Service player Chris Milligan a speedy recovery from his double leg break last week from all at Vale of Leithen FC.

“The squad has trained exceptionally hard over the last month and we are determined to put that into practice this Saturday.

“James Elliot, Brad Raiker who are injured and Keith McLeod who is yet to serve his suspension will form our usual list of absentees however having added to the squad since our last competitive game we are have more than enough competition for places.

“Shaun Stevens put pen to paper last night and I’m delighted he has decided to rejoin us and give us more options upfront . It’s also been refreshing to see Ali Smith return to training and he will make his long awaited debut.”

Defender Craig McBride joined the club in January after returning from a spell in America, and played in the matches against Selkirk and Gala Fairydean Rovers before the team’s enforced lay-off. He wants the club to start fulfilling it’s potential.

He said: “I think with the type of squad we have the league position isn’t really a fair reflection. We have a very strong team and so should be sitting higher up the table.

“We go into every game looking for three points and so I don’t think this Saturday will be any different. I don’t know too much about Civil but I’ve heard they’re a physical team and so we just need to match that.

“The training over the last few weeks has been hard, we’ve been working a lot on staying fit so everyone should be feeling sharp and ready to go come game time.”