Vale ship six on way to ‘disappointing’ defeat
Vale of Leithen ................................. 2 Arniston Rangers ............................ 6
VALE of Leithen produced a “disappointing” display as they shipped six goals at the hands of Arniston Rangers.
To their credit, the Innerleithen outfit fought until the end and grabbed two goals in the final minutes to restore some pride.
Vale – who are rock-bottom of the East of Scotland Football League Division One table on zero points – welcomed an Arniston side sitting two places above them to Victoria Park.
But any hopes of the Borderers registering their first points of the campaign were extinguished in a bruising first hour.
Mikey Hamilton opened the scoring for the visitors shortly before the 15-minute mark.
Arran Laidlaw made it two from the penalty spot on 32 minutes before grabbing his brace early in the second half.
A quickfire Jack Burrows double, his first on 68 minutes and his second on 74 minutes, made it 5-0.
Vale finally got themselves on the scoresheet in the 83rd minute when Gary Mitchell converted a spot kick.
But the home fans’ joy was cut short as just two minutes later Andy Jones popped up to restore the five-goal cushion.
Daniel McKinlay struck in injury time as Vale had the final say in a goal-filled encounter.
A Vale spokesperson said: “A disappointing performance and result on Saturday as we fell behind early on and trailed 2-0 at the break.
“One thing this side can rarely be accused of is a lack of effort and they kept going with a couple of late strikes giving us something to take from the game.”