Vale of Leven v Vale of Clyde

Vale of Leven 2-1 Vale of Clyde
SJFA West Region Sectional League Cup Group 9
Millburn Park
Wednesday 1st August 2018

The American adventure has concluded with a heavy heart and a new appreciation for baseball, and it’s back to the normality of every day life once again. Thankfully, the Scottish football season seems to be starting earlier and earlier each year and I can dive right back into domestic action with the last game of this season’s SJFA West Region Sectional League Cup group stage.

The Venue

I’ve talked about Millburn before way back in the early days of this blog. Being by some way the closest club to my house, it’s somewhere I visited on a regular basis last season, and plan to continue to visit regularly this year. The Vale committee have done a wonderful job here over the last year, and the place has been freshened up considerably. It’s incredible what a lick of paint and some TLC can do to an old place like this, and it’s a venue most teams must now look forward to visiting.

A notable addition to the ground since the last time I was here is that the large grassed area behind the goal at the pavilion end has been marked out for the newly established and already very popular Walking football team associated with the club. It’s a fantastic use for this piece of land and an addition I’m really happy to see.

The Teams

The Sectional League Cup has been revamped this season, with teams assigned into fifteen sections of four teams and one section of three. The same sections will be kept for next season with the fixtures reversed before being redrawn for the following year. The sixteen group winners will proceed to a straight knockout cup to determine the overall winner. In the event of a draw in a group match, a penalty shoot out is played, with the winner receiving a bonus point.

Vale of Leven have had their full history written up on here before, and given that I will see them multiple times this coming season, I’ll got into some historical titbits in the future and talk about the current side. The club have retained the services of most of last season’s squad, although notably, club captain Kenny Wilson has moved on. Several players have been brought in, including Ross Lyden from Clydebank, goalkeeper Ben Fulton and forward Scott Gallagher. Several players have also stepped up from the highly successful under 21 side with Mark Meechan, Robbie Dolan and Anthony Pilkington all making the step up. The season has seen a rough start with two losses in the Sectional, 3-1 at home to Yoker Athletic and 3-0 away to Clydebank. They will be looking to finish strong tonight ahead of the new League Two campaign.

Vale of Clyde, based in the Tollcross region of Glasgow have been around since 1873 and call Fullerton Park their home. They were one of the most successful teams in the early days of junior football winning the Scottish Junior Cup three times in the 1890–91, 1892–93 and 1903–04 seasons. In more recent years they have flitted around the lower divisions, but did win promotion to the Superleague First Division with a Central District Division One title in 2005.

Mark McKay was appointed as the club’s new manager for the 2018-19 season and he has assembled an almost entirely new squad, retaining just a few key players from last season’s mid-table side. They started the Sectional campaign with a 2-0 defeat away to Clydebank, before a fine 4-0 victory over Yoker on Monday night. They go into tonight’s game knowing that a victory could see them top the section depending on Clydebank’s result against Yoker.

The Game

The torrent of rain over the last few days that followed our long, dry spell rendered the usually flawless Millburn pitch unusually both heavy and slippery and both sides struggled with the conditions – which got progressively worse as the evening proceeded. It took until the sixteenth minute for the first real danger to present itself at either end. Vale of Leven picked the ball up deep inside their own half and played a serious of excellent passes that eventually released Ben Craig down the right wing. His cross fizzed across the box and was met at the back post by Robbie Dolan, who forced Vale of Clyde’s keeper Chanda Sula into a good, point blank stop.

The chance kickstarted a flurry of activity that saw the home side take the lead two minutes later. Some more good movement down the right hand side saw Craig’s cross only half cleared. The ball fell to Mark Butler twenty-five yards from goal and his strike took a big deflection to take it past Sula for the opening goal. The visitors were only behind for a matter of seconds however, as almost straight from the restart they marched down their own right wing and Chris Kennedy’s cross was met by the head of Cameron Wilson, who steered the ball past Ben Fulton in the Vale of Leven goal for the equaliser. Wilson almost put his side ahead just three minutes later when he got the break of the ball at the angle of the box and shot just inches over the bar.

Just before the half hour, Vale of Leven found more joy down the right through Craig, whose cross was spilled by Sula to the feet of Dolan. It was a fantastic chance to retake the lead, but the winger saw his shot cleared off the line by a spectacular lunge from Kevin Turner. Five minutes later, full back Adam Monaghan’s free kick from just inside the Vale of Clyde half was flapped at by Sula, but Dolan fired the rebound over the bar. With half time approaching, the home side were having the bulk of the chances, and a fine 1-2 between Craig and David McNaught looked promising until a scuffed shot. Vale of Clyde looked menacing going forward but were lacking a cutting edge and failed to work Fulton on several occasions. Unbelievably, the home side had another shot cleared off the line by Turner before the break, when Scott Gallagher – on as a substitute for the injured Anthony Pilkington – snapped off a shot after a poor clearance. It was a breathless end to the half, but the sides went in level.

The second half began much in the same vein as the first, with neither side settling immediately. With 52 minutes played, a slack pass in the Vale of Leven midfield allowed Mark Little a clear run at goal. His initial shot was straight at Fulton, but the keeper failed to hold on and gave the striker another bite at the cherry, which he really should have done better with. Three minutes later, the home side has a gilt edged chance when Butler’s shot was saved well by Sula but only into the path of Gallagher, but the new signing couldn’t hit the target with his effort.

It took until the 68th minute for any more real action, and it saw the home side retake the lead. Craig Cowan floated in a harmless looking free kick from inside his own area, but the slippery ball was spilled by Sula. A Vale of Leven trialist (who I didn’t catch the name of) slid in to knock the ball into the net. Once again though, Vale of Clyde stormed straight up the pitch and were handed a golden chance to draw level for a second time. Little’s run into the box was halted when he was upended by Stuart Bryson and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Little picked himself up to take the penalty, but his powerful strike came back off the bar to retain the home side’s advantage.

The game was turned on it’s head with 72 minutes played when a long ball over the top saw two Vale of Clyde players bearing down on goal. Fulton rushed out of his box to block the ball, but used his hands and was shown a red card by the referee. With all three substitutes used (and no sub keeper that I could see on the bench anyway) forward Ryan Kerr, who was only just on as a substitute, took over in goals for the home side. Vale of Leven did an excellent job of protecting Kerr, and largely managed to keep Vale of Clyde at bay even with a man down.

With seven minutes remaining, Kerr’s inexperience in goal showed when he spilled a fairly routine shot at the feet of Little. He recovered superbly though to make an excellent save from the Vale of Clyde striker’s follow up, and the danger was cleared. The visitors were throwing everything they could at the hosts in order to equalise, but Vale of Leven’s defence held resolute.

As the game entered stoppage time, Dolan broke free down the left and beat several Vale of Clyde players before being brought down in the box. With the opportunity to seal the win, Cowan stepped up but saw his penalty saved by Chula. With six minutes of stoppage time to be played, it set up a nervy finish, but the home side held on to pick up three points and finish the campaign on a high note in a highly entertaining game.

The Pies

I assume the club predicted that a second midweek fixture of the week, coupled with the poor weather and Celtic’s Champions League qualifier on the TV would result in a low crowd, so the pie hut wasn’t open tonight. Thankfully I had also predicted this and ate before I headed along to the game!

Admission: £5
Programme: None
Pie: None
Bovril: None
Attendance: 31