Vale forced to settle for a draw after spot strike
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DEVERONVALE manager Ally MacLeod was left to ponder on what might have been after his team had to settle for a draw on Saturday when Formartine scored a stoppage-time penalty.
Vale’s final game at Princess Royal Park this season saw them lose out in the dying minutes of the match in Kris Hunter’s first game in charge of United.
Liam Forbes opened the scoring before Kyle Rae scored an unfortunate own goal. Graeme Rodger gave Vale the lead in the second half through a penalty but Cammy Keith’s spot kick saw the teams share the spoils.
MacLeod said: "They got a penalty late on and it was disappointing that we were not able to hold out for the result.
"We had chances throughout the game and so did they, but overall I think we should have won the match."
Vale now have two weeks to prepare for their next game away at Keith.
"This week we will be training on Monday and Wednesday and we will give the players next Saturday off," said MacLeod.
"We then have an under-20s game against Turriff on April 13, and we will look to play some of the first team players.
"Our next league match against Keith is going to be difficult. They were 2-0 up against us earlier in the season, they had a man sent off and we went on to win the game 5-3, but that result could have been different.
"They will pose a tough challenge, but hopefully we will have some players back from injury."
Vale close out their season with an away game at Fort William on Saturday, May 2, and MacLeod already has plans finalised for pre-season training in the summer.
"Our full pre-season training plan is already in place.
"We are also looking to secure two or three new players to add to the squad in the summer.
"We are aiming for a good pre-season with some challenging games to prepare for the new campaign.
"All the players that are currently injured will be able to take part in full pre-season training as it sits at the moment, and fingers crossed it stays that way.
"It will be a real boost for the club to get a full-strength team back."
