Things looking up for Vale of Leithen, says new boss Joe Murray

Vale of Leithen on the attack against Crossgates Primrose at home at Victoria Park on Saturday (Photo: Steve Cox)

New Vale of Leithen manager Joe Murray reckons things are looking up for the East of Scotland Football League premier division’s basement side and he’s hoping to see further progress at home to Dundonald Bluebell this coming Saturday.

The Innerleithen outfit go into that match, kicking off at 2.30pm, without any points from 17 games, having been beaten 2-1 at home by third-placed Crossgates Primrose at the weekend.

Their visitors are nine league places and 24 points better off than them, having played two games fewer, but Murray is confident that disparity won’t be evident on the pitch at Victoria Park this weekend.

“We’re starting to close the gap in level of performance a little bit,” he said.

Vale of Leithen and Crossgates Primrose vying for the ball at the weekend (Pic: Steve Cox)

“We’re getting our structure and how we want to play a little bit better now.

“There’s still loads to work on with the guys as we keep trying to improve the squad but it’s getting better.

“We’ve got an idea of how we want to play and how we want to go into games.”

Dylan Weldon got one back for Vale against Crossgates on 90 minutes on Saturday, Scott Lawrie having put the Fifers 2-0 up with goals a minute into the second half and a quarter of an hour after that.

Vale of Leithen losing 2-1 at home to Crossgates Primrose at the weekend (Pic: Steve Cox)

Murray, 39, is expecting fellow Fifers Bluebell to pose a similar challenge and is confident his team will be up to it.

“They’re a team that’s very similar to Crossgates – a typical junior side, quite direct, quite physical, very aggressive, good old-fashioned Scottish football really,” he said.

“I don’t think we’ll have to work on as much this week in terms of setting the team up because it will be very similar to Saturday. It’ll just be about getting the guys focused on going forward a bit more.

“I played against Dundonald a couple of times last season, so I know how they play and how they go about games and they won’t have changed massively from last season, I don’t think.

“I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to games more and more each week because I want to see how much we can progress.

“It’s a new year and a fresh start and we’ve got to go into it positively and try to pick up as many points as we can.

“We’ve got to get our performances changing so that when we go into next season, we’ll have a different mindset.”