Vale of Leven Juniors celebrate first division survival

May 29 2009 by Andy Galloway, Lennox Herald (main ed)

VALE of Leven boss Hugh Hamill reckons clinching survival in the first division was as good as winning last year’s second division title.

The Millburn men won their battle against the drop in some style on Wednesday, beating promotion contenders Ashfield 4-1.

It completed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Vale, who looked doomed just a month ago before winning three of their next four games.

And they made it four victories last week with a comprehensive success over the Glasgow side before a crowd of about 200.

Hugh said: “We were good against Ashfield and it’s worked out well for us. It was a bit tense and we’ve been rather consumed by the whole thing in recent weeks, but it would have been criminal had we gone down.

“I think we’ve proven to everybody that we are a good team. We beat Ashfield pretty comprehensively when they were looking for the points to go up.

“We took stock with five games to go after we lost to Johnstone Burgh, and after that the boys dug in and won four of the remaining five.

“Losing the other one, away to Thorniewood, was no disgrace as they are also going for promotion and it wasn’t a 3-0 game.

“It’s always nice when you win something and winning the second division last year was certainly a good experience.

“But it felt as though we had won the league last week, given how it’s ended up. It probably ranks alongside what we achieved last season in the circumstances.”

And with a place in next season’s first division now secured, Hugh is looking to be challenging at the right end of the table.

He added: “I think we will see a much improved league position this time next year. We’ve got quite a young side which now has a year’s experience under its belt.

“I don’t think there can be any excuses in terms of lacking experience, so we should be challenging at the other end of the league.

“I don’t want to make any daft predictions like we’ll win it, but I am expecting to at least challenge to do that.

“I know there are positions where I could strengthen and a goalscorer who can match Mark Pawsey’s 17-goal return this season is a priority.

“I’ll also have talks with the squad this week regarding who will be retained for next season.”

Match report – p47