Garry O’Connor’s Selkirk are the visitors for this weekend’s Border derby at Victoria Park. Vale would do well not to take the Souters lightly as their league position of 14th may be a false one given some of the results they have had and the amount of goals they have scored.
Indeed, if they can manage to tighten up at the back there is evidence to suggest that they could shoot up the table. The last week alone is indicative of their season as a whole – last Saturday’s 4-0 win over our midweek conquerors, BSC Glasgow, was followed up by a 4-3 defeat to Hawick Royal Albert. They have also smashed seven goals past both Gala Fairydean Rovers and East Stirlingshire after losing the first six league fixtures. After 11 games played, Selkirk have the league’s highest goals against tally, whilst also being among the highest scorers.
Nevertheless, they come into this in decent form, with three wins on the bounce before losing to Hawick on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Vale have lost their last three. A decent enough performance against BSC Glasgow bore no fruit on Wednesday, while the previous two fixtures saw them thumped 9-1 at East Kilbride before restoring some pride with a 2-1 loss at home to the same team.
Speaking after that midweek disappointment, Chris Anderson said: “It is so frustrating to come all the way up here on a Wednesday night, create loads of chances and come away with nothing.
“They are a good side but we wasted a lot of chances.”
Looking ahead to the weekend, he added: “Garry and his staff have done an excellent job in turning around some early season defeats to gain some form coming into the game today.
“Since the Lowland League emerged it has been no secret that the Border clubs have made it their mission to be the top team in the region and we will always look out for the Border derbies as a fixture to look forward to.
“I would like to give credit to my players for their reaction since our Scottish cup defeat. Everyone was disappointed with the performance however throughout the season our reaction to defeats have been excellent and showed the potential of this group to be encouraging.”
Ando is still without injured captain captain James Elliot and fellow centre back Steven Lynch, whilst work commitments has ruled out some more bodies, so the strong squad will continue to be utilised.