Vale of Leithen 1       Civil Service Strollers 2

McCleod 15                   Froude 60, Churchill 69

Callum Hodgson

at Victoria Park

VALE boss Chris Anderson was left furious, as his side surrendered a 1-0 lead at Victoria Park on Saturday.

Keith McCleod opened the scoring on 15 minutes, but a Steven Froude free kick on the hour mark and a David Churchill goal just nine minutes later ensured it was Civil Service who took the points back to the capital.

An angry Anderson told us: “We were not good enough and it was really disappointing.

“In the second half we just let them back into the game and we were really, really poor.

“There were a few players out there who aren’t up to match speed yet as they have been out for a while, but there are no excuses. We have got enough quality in that team to play better than that. It really is disappointing and the players know that as well.

“But obviously we now have to look forward to the next game which is Dalbeattie away. It will be tough, as it was when we played them the first game of the season. Now we have to regroup and try to focus on that.”

The Innerleithen side took advantage of some poor defending to go 1-0 up with a quarter of an hour on the clock.

Civil’s Shaun Turnbull couldn’t control the ball on the edge of the box, allowing the opportunistic McLeod to nip in and bury it down the right hand side.

The whole afternoon was a battle in midfield, which led to some hard but fair tackling.

And Civil nearly equalised when a Christopher Milligan free kick came off the head of Matthew Cunningham, but Andrew McQueen got down well.

Scott Clapperton and Churchill also couldn’t find the target before the interval.

But then on 59 minutes, Keith Boyes brought down Churchill on the edge of the box, giving Strollers a free kick in a dangerous position and earning him a yellow card in the process.

Froude stepped up and blasted the ball under the wall and straight past the confused Vale keeper.

Eight minutes later, the Edinburgh side brought on Jordan Boyle and, as if a script had been written, he was involved in the winner 120 seconds later.

He pinged in a cross from the left and after a malaise on the goal line, Churchill just did enough to nod the ball in.

Vale looked shocked. Blair Atkinson and Jason Stevens tried to respond, but with no success.

But Alex Cunningham’s side held out and could have extended their lead further.

Matthew Cunningham played a nice ball to Churchill, he then found Ian Ballantyne, but he couldn’t get the better of McQueen. Anderson’s side tried to press for an equaliser but were frustrated by dogged defending.

The best attempt they could muster was on 85 minutes, when Stevens headed wide from a Kevin Motion corner.

Vale could have climbed up to fifth with a win, but the loss means they sit 10th in the table, three points ahead of Saturday’s opponents.

Vale of Leithen: A McQuuen, R Manson, L McIntosh, D O’Donnell, K Boyes, A Hunter (S Lynch 67), S Stewart, K Motion, B Atkinson, K McLeod, J Stevens. Not used: R Lamb, J Scott-Mercer.

Civil Service Strollers: S Burnside, C Milligan, A Brown (B Milven 79), C Newall, S Turnbull, M Cunningham, P Campbell (J Boyle 67), S Clapperton (J Downie 67), S Froude, I Ballantyne, D Churchill. Not used: A Boyle, D Stewart.