Vale of Leithen 3

Gretna 1

David Knox at Victoria Park

AN air of confidence swirling around Victoria Park just now is having its rewards.

The once-threatened club of a few seasons ago appears to have weathered that storm of uncertainty with signs of improvement both on and off the field.

And despite being on the backfoot for much of Saturday’s match against an improving Gretna, Vale calmly collected their sixth win of the season.

Manager Chris Anderson, who can take a lot of credit for the turnaround in fortunes, was pleased with Saturday’s outcome.

He told us: “The pitch wasn’t conducive to playing nice, passing football but we did what we had to do and when our chances came along we took them.

“Gretna look like they are getting better and we had to defend well against them.

“It was a good three points as we had to work really hard.”

While Anderson appears to be doing the trick in Innerleithen, recently appointed Raydale boss Matt Henney seems like he will steer Gretna back towards former glories with the string of talented youngsters he has already signed.

The pace of Adam Telfer and Chris Wraighte proved problematic for the home defence almost from the off.

And Gretna could easily have been a couple of goals to the good inside the opening five minutes.

The first chance came after only 90 seconds as Aaron Kelly’s shot was blocked in front of goal, and just a minute later Sean Stewart’s effort clipped Liam McIntosh and landed on the bar.

It took Vale quarter of an hour to find their feet as Kevin Motion shot wildly over after good work from Keith McLeod to steal the ball out wide and play in a perfect cross.

Wraighte looked like he was about to edge Gretna in front on the half hour after bursting through the Vale defence to round Andy McQueen, but James Elliot made a goal-saving recovery tackle to slide the ball out for a corner.

Motion’s powerful shot at the other end did test Daniel Armstrong, with Blair Atkinson flashing the rebound across goal.

Ainslie Hunter was forced to clear off his line as Gretna piled on late first half pressure.

Just when it seemed the teams would go in goalless, McLeod won the race for an innocuous-looking through pass to clip the ball beyond the out-rushing Armstrong and over the line.

The 43rd minute lead only last 30 seconds as Rob McCartney burst into the area to smash a high shot into the roof of the Vale net.

Gretna continued to pose problems in the second half with Jack Dickinson’s header being denied by a Sean Stewart goal-line clearance.

With 20 minutes remaining, though, Atkinson showed great composure during a rare Vale attack to cut inside and slot a low shot beyond Armstrong to regain the lead.

Substitute Tommy Patterson went within inches of adding a third as he steered a Jay Stevens’ cross just wide of the post.

Only a fantastic goal-line block by Elliot prevented Gretna drawing level again on 77 minutes.

And Vale required a few last-gasp challenges and clearances to keep the Raydale side at bay.

But McLeod made sure of the points in the 88th minute as he took full advantage of a Dickinson mistake to charge in on goal and pick his spot in the bottom corner.

Vale of Leithen. A McQueen, J Scott-Mercer, K Boyes, A Hunter, J Elliot, K Motion, S Stewart (T Patterson 67), J Stevens, B Atkinson, K McLeod & L McIntosh